Maternity care survey 2018: national results

8. Neonatal Care

Summary

• The vast majority of women whose baby had been admitted to a neonatal unit (95 per cent) rated the care their baby had received positively. 
• Most women felt they were able to stay with their baby as much as they wanted and that they always received assistance within a reasonable time in the neonatal unit (85 and 86 per cent respectively).
• Two in five women were offered emotional support or counselling after their baby was admitted to a neonatal unit.
• Women were positive about their experience of person-centred behaviours. They were most positive about being treated with kindness and understanding (94 per cent).

Overall Experience

The vast majority of women (95 per cent) whose baby had been admitted to a neonatal unit rated the care their baby had received as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’, with three quarters of women (75 per cent) rating the care as ‘Excellent’ (Figure 8.1).

Figure 8.1: Overall experience of neonatal care in 2018

Experience of Neonatal Care

Fourteen per cent of women reported that their baby was admitted to a neonatal unit. Of these women: 

• 60 per cent were admitted immediately following birth; 
• 30 per cent were admitted during their postnatal hospital stay; and
• 10 per cent were admitted following their initial discharge.

Just over two in three women (69 per cent) reported that their baby stayed in the neonatal unit for a week or less (Figure 8.2).

Figure 8.2: Length of stay in neonatal unit

Most women (85 per cent) felt that they were able to stay with their baby in the neonatal unit as much as they wanted (Table 4). No respondents were restricted to visiting hours, however a small number of women reported they weren’t able to stay as much as they wanted as there was no accommodation available (5 per cent) or for medical reasons (6 per cent).

Table 4: Able to stay with their baby in the neonatal unit as much as wanted^[21]

Just over three-quarters of women (77 per cent) were able to have as much skin-to-skin contact with their baby as they wanted in the neonatal unit. 

The survey asked women whether they received assistance within a reasonable time if they called or asked for it whilst their baby was in neonatal care. Most women (86 per cent) felt they always received it within a reasonable time and only one per cent reported that they never received assistance within a reasonable time.

Two in five women (40 per cent) were offered emotional support or counselling after their baby was admitted to a neonatal unit. Women whose baby stayed in a neonatal unit for more than a week were more likely to be offered this (52 per cent) than those whose baby stayed in a neonatal unit for a week or less (33 per cent).

Person-centred Care

The survey asked women whether they agreed or disagreed with six statements relating to experiences of person-centred behaviours while their baby was in a neonatal unit. As shown in Figure 8.3, women were positive about these behaviours.

Women were most positive about being treated with kindness and understanding and being involved in their baby’s care as much as possible (94 and 92 per cent respectively). Women were least positive about being given the information and explanations they needed, with 88 per cent of women rating this positively and eight per cent rating it negatively.

Figure 8.3: Responses to person-centred statements – Neonatal Care