Maternity care praised by mums in survey

Health officials have welcomed news that East Lancashire's maternity services have been recognised as being amongst the best in the country.

A total of 120 NHS trusts took part in the 2024 Maternity Survey and 18,951 women who gave birth in February 2024 responded to a Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey.

East Lancashire Hospitals Trust (ELHT) was rated "better than expected" after 156 new mothers who gave birth in the delivery suite at Lancashire Women's and Newborn centre or midwifery-led units at Rossendale, Blackburn and Burnley took part.

Chief executive, Martin Hodgson, said the results were "positive for local parents and a testament to the hard working maternity team".

The survey looked at all aspects of maternity services, including antenatal care, care during labour and birth and post-natal care.

Patients praised ELHT for allowing partners to stay with them as much as they wanted, taking their concerns seriously, and being able to get help from staff when needed.

Mr Hodgson added: "There is a lot of hard work from the team across all our maternity settings to deliver these amazing results and I am so proud of everything they have achieved for local parents and children.

"To know people felt supported and heard is very positive indeed."

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