Since summer 2019, NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB have been working with patients and the public to gather views about maternity services in the area.
Following their engagement work in 2019/20, we reached out to organisations and local stakeholders in 2021 to find out how services had changed for patients as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
They are now looking to form a panel of people from Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent who have used local maternity services in the last two years, are currently using maternity services or might be planning on using maternity services in the coming years.
Background:
Maternity services in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent are provided by two health trusts – University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM), and University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB).
Maternity services had to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in births being suspended temporarily at the Freestanding Midwife-Led Birth Units (FMBUs) at County Hospital, Stafford, and at Samuel Johnson Community Hospital in Lichfield. This allowed staff from these units to support the larger units at Royal Stoke University Hospital and Queen’s Hospital in Burton.
Current situation:
Births at the FMBUs have remained suspended since 2020. Staffing challenges in the maternity workforce are preventing both trusts from being able to safely reopen these units.
Although home births have been available at times since the pandemic, both trusts suspended their home birth service earlier this year until further notice.
Aims:
They want to find out:
- what matters to local people about maternity services, with a focus on the FMBUs
- if views about maternity services have changed since 2021 when the last involvement activity took place
- people’s knowledge of the maternity services available and where they are located
- how best to communicate key messages about the maternity services to the public
If you join the panel they will note how you prefer to be contacted, and depending on your preferred method they may ask you to join a group discussion, have a one-to-one interview or fill out a survey – and depending on what’s most appropriate for you, you can do this in person, online or over the phone.
If you would like to take part in this panel, please follow the link to register your interest: https://nhs.welcomesyourfeedback.net/kkm6f2 .
Everyone who registers their interest will be contacted in the coming months with further information on upcoming panels and how you can contribute.