News Thumbs up for local maternity services
Maternity staff in the East Riding are celebrating after they were given a star-rating in three stringent national checks into their services.
Mums-to-be and health professionals gave the thumbs up to maternity services provided by Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as part of a series of national assessments.
The trust came out of the assessment with flying colours in every aspect of maternity care.
Angie Smithson, divisional manager for the Trust's Family Services, said: "We are absolutely delighted to have come out well in not one, but three, national assessments that have scrutinised the services we provide."
The final report showed that:
*Ninety-three per cent per cent of women saw a health professional about their pregnancy as soon as they wanted.
*The trust scored above national average for the number of women offered screening tests to see if their baby had Down's Syndrome. The national average was 94 per cent; the trust scored 97 per cent. Ninety-three per cent of women felt they were offered a choice about whether to have this type of screening, compared with 88 per cent nationally.
*Ninety-two per cent of women had a dating scan and 100 per cent of women had a scan about 20 weeks into their pregnancy.
*Ninety-nine per cent of women said they had the name and telephone number of a midwife they could contact during pregnancy and 98 per cent said after the birth of their baby they had contact details for a midwife or health visitor.
The thumbs-up for the Goole and north Lincolnshire hospitals comes as maternity services in other parts of Yorkshire are coming under attack for the appalling conditions in which women have to give birth.
However, one woman who had her baby with the help of maternity service at the local trust said the hospitals' success should be used as a catalyst for more resources being channelled into the Goole centre on Woodlands Avenue.
Kirsty Lee, who had Goole's first new-year's baby at Goole Hospital, said there should be a round-the-clock maternity service for local women.
"It's a good service in Goole and I and other Goole women should be able to use it at any time of the day, but at present, unless you have your baby between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, you've had it."
The 26-year-old company secretary, who lives on Bell Lane with her husband Paul and seven-week-old baby Grace, was only allowed to have her baby at Goole because her labour as so faer advanced, otherwise she would have been taken to Scunthorpe, where there are four midwives on duty.
She is now calling for the NHS to plough more into the Goole centre so there are two midwives available at all times rather than just the one at any given time.
"The reason they don't have two midwives is because of health and safety," said Mrs Lee.
"It's a real shame because the midwives there are brilliant and the service we received couldn't have been better."
The centre is currently open for mothers to give birth on a 'as needs be' basis.
Being admitted to Goole depends on the woman's condition - if there are any complications or she is giving birth by Caesarean she has to go elsewhere in the county
"It's not good enough for all the women in Goole," added Mrs Lee. "In other centres you are one of many, whereas you get a personal, one-to-one service in Goole - the way it used to be."
A spokeswoman for North Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: "The facility is open on a 'needs be' basis when local women come into the hospital to deliver their baby.
"Being admitted to Goole is also dependent on the woman's condition. We would ask Mrs Lee to get in touch with us so that we can discuss her concerns further."
Published on 21st February 2008 in News.
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