Maternity care survey 2018: technical report

1. Introduction and Background

This report provides information on the technical aspects of the 2018 Maternity Care Survey, including development, implementation, analysis and reporting.

The Maternity Care Survey is one of a suite of national surveys which are part of the Scottish Care Experience Survey Programme. The surveys aim to provide local and national information on the quality of health and care services from the perspective of those using them. They allow local health and care providers to compare with other areas of Scotland and to track progress in improving the experiences of people using their services. Information about the other national care experience surveys is available at www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Health/careexperience.

The survey programme supports the three quality ambitions of the ‘2020 Vision’^[1] - Safe, Effective, Person-centred - by providing a basis for the measurement of quality as experienced by service users across Scotland. In particular the surveys support the person-centred quality ambition which is focused on ensuring that care is responsive to people’s individual preferences, needs and values.

In 2015, a review of Maternity & Neonatal Services in Scotland was announced.  Its aim was to ensure every mother and baby continues to get the best possible care from Scotland’s health service, giving all children the best start in life.  This review examined choice, quality and safety of maternity and neonatal services, in consultation with the workforce, NHS Boards and service users.  

Following on from this in 2017, ‘Best Start - a Five-Year Forward Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care in Scotland’^[2] was published. The results from the 2018 Maternity Care Survey will provide baseline data for NHS Boards and hospitals, helping to inform progress of the implementation of Best Start’s recommendations.

The Maternity Care Survey asks people across Scotland about their experience of maternity care services, from antenatal through to postnatal care. The survey is run by the Scottish Government, with support from National Records of Scotland. The 2018 survey is the third iteration of the Maternity Care Survey, with the first iteration run in 2013 and the second in 2015.

National results, as well as local level results by NHS Board and hospital, were published on 26 March 2019. Links to all published results are available at www.gov.scot/MaternitySurvey.