The York Hospital

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

At our last inspection we rated this key question as good and this remained the same at this assessment. This meant women were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

We looked for evidence that women were always treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. We checked that their privacy and dignity was respected, that they understood that they and their experience of how they were treated and supported mattered. We also looked for evidence that every effort was made to take women’s wishes into account and respect their choices, to achieve the best possible outcomes for them.

We have not awarded this service a score for Caring.

Find out about when we will not publish a key question score and what we look at when we assess Caring.

The service always treated patients and their relatives with kindness, empathy, and compassion, and showed mutual respect toward colleagues.

Women told us they could not fault the care they had received saying it was ‘faultless’, ‘outstanding’ and ‘fantastic’. They told us staff had been supportive and had offered emotional and psychological support at every contact.

The service offered women the ability to provide feedback via many different routes. These included, CQC Maternity Services Survey (2025), induction of labour survey, partner access to the wards survey, birthing outside of guidance focus group feedback and breast and bottle feeding telephone audit. Some surveys were undertaken in conjunction with MNVP. The service incorporated the actions from these surveys into their improvement plan.

We saw examples of thank‑you cards displayed in clinical areas, demonstrating the positive feedback families had shared about their care and the appreciation shown for staff.

Staff were able to provide examples of how to support women and families with their cultural needs using different resources, such as language line, interpreters and videos and ensuring preferred gender staff were available for intimate care.

Communication between staff was calm, professional, and respectful, reflecting good teamwork and a positive culture of mutual support.

Staff interactions with women and those close to them were consistently positive, respectful, compassionate, and considerate. We observed staff introducing themselves and clearly explaining care and treatment, as well as warmly welcoming women and their families.

We observed staff maintaining patients’ privacy and dignity through the appropriate use of curtains when providing personal care or holding conversations. Patients reported no concerns regarding privacy or dignity.

Staff made women feel comfortable and well supported. We observed positive practice where staff facilitated skin to skin contact immediately after birth, promoting bonding and compassionate, person centred postnatal care.

The hospital chapel had a baby remembrance book where women and others using maternity services could write a prayer, poem or letter for their baby or unborn baby.

Staff gave positive examples of using a memory box to provide compassion for families experiencing baby loss. The boxes included items such as teddies, hand and foot print kits and paired blankets designed for scent transfer between mothers and babies when they could not be together. Staff found these invaluable for supporting sensitive conversations and offering personalised emotional care.

Partners told us about a birth reflection service to support women and families who want to work through birth experiences.

The service treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

Women told us midwives listened to their wishes. They told us staff were excellent, polite and kind. This helped then to feel confident about their choices. They told us staff had provided them with a choice about home or hospital birth.

Women told us there were options for meals and drinks to meet their dietary requirements, including religion, and account for allergies and intolerances. Refreshments were available in all areas.

Most women told us they were asked about their preference for breastfeeding or bottle feeding and were offered advice and tips to help, reflecting person‑centred infant feeding support.

Ward rounds observed were caring, inclusive, involving women in their care and decision making.

We observed staff demonstrating a person centred approach taking time to understand what mattered most to each patient. Staff discussed options regarding care, risks and benefits with women.

Staff communicated effectively using language and communication aids, with access to interpretation services including British Sign Language, video translation, and electronic devices.

Staff understood and respected the personal, cultural, social, and religious needs of women and how they may relate to care needs and how they build up a rapport with patients to ensure they are able to provide individualised care.

Staff were able to accommodate female sonographers for scan appointments if requested in advance.

Processes were in place to support women with neurodiverse needs. Community staff provided women with a passport which followed them throughout their journey. Women had a Perinatal Mental Health plan if needed. A group of midwives, called the Amethyst Team, provided individualised care to women experiencing mental health needs during pregnancy and up to eight weeks after delivery.

Health records showed that staff developed individualised management plans for all women and reviewed and adapted them at every contact. Staff referred women to specialist services as required on an individual risk assessed basis.

Staff discussed individual birth plans with women and uploaded these to the electronic patient records, so they were available to all. Staff provided women with a paper copy.

A transgender policy was in place to ensure trans and non-binary people received respectful and equitable maternity support.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

Women told us they were well informed which helped them make decisions about their care, including their birth plan. They told us they were able to ask questions throughout their pregnancy.

The service had a personalised care plan for all women, which could be accessed through an app on their mobile phone or as a physical paper copy. Staff used the plan to record and update women’s personal preferences and birth planning choices, supporting shared decision‑making and continuity of care. The team had produced this in conjunction with the MNVP. Staff told us it was an excellent resource for women with lots of information. Alongside this birth plan, staff clearly documented and kept clinical records up to date.

Women who had used the personalised care plan provided positive feedback, saying it was informative and they liked something visual they could hold on to. The service had added QR codes to the personalised care plan so women could access leaflets in a chosen language.

The service funded external home birth provision to ensure women had a genuine, choice led option available and accessible to all who wished to use it.

The service provided support into the Humber and North Yorkshire maternity service ‘Ask a Midwife’ social media platform, supporting women from across the region with questions and answers.

Staff listened to and understood patients’ needs, views and wishes. They recognised the importance of identifying patients’ immediate requirements and responded promptly to minimise discomfort, concern, or distress.

All women told us staff answered call bells promptly, with concerns listened to and taken seriously. They provided examples where their wants and needs were listened to, which enabled women to take the lead.

Staff shared examples of effective escalation and timely clinical response, with appropriate referrals to specialist teams.

Staff regularly assessed and monitored women for pain. Care records showed pain assessments were accurately documented as part of MEOWS monitoring.

The service provided additional support for people with mental health needs, smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, domestic abuse. They provided extra care and support for those whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

Women reported staff offered them food during or after their labour, demonstrating staff responded promptly to women’s immediate needs and ensured timely access to nutrition and hydration support at a critical point in their care.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff reported a good culture. They told us they felt respected, valued, and supported, reflecting a positive shift in workplace culture and strengthened staff wellbeing. Some staff shared fewer positive experiences, indicating the service has not yet fully embedded improvements across all areas.

Many staff said they felt proud to work for the service. Staff reported they felt listened to and could see tangible changes, such as increased staffing levels, which contributed to improved morale and strengthened staff wellbeing.

Community leaders told us morale had been low but had improved following recent staff engagement. One example of staff engagement the service provided was a workshop held to encourage teams to consider home births from a whole‑team perspective, including safeguarding and safe staffing. This collaborative approach had led to changes in community midwives’ shift patterns to better support service needs and staff wellbeing, reflecting strengthened team engagement.

12-month sickness rates for staff range from 1.5% for consultants, 5.4% medical staff below consultants, 5.5% for midwifery staff and 7.4% for other support staff. Managers worked closely with HR to support staff on long term sickness leave. They took individual needs into account and made appropriate workplace adjustments. Managers were flexible when staff required time off for personal reasons. The service reported sickness via a performance report to the trust board.

Senior leaders confirmed, following the inspection, it had revised its approach to appraisals. The service will now support staff to schedule appraisals across the full year, rather than completing them within a six-month window period, enabling greater flexibility.

Staff had access to a wide range of wellbeing initiatives, including occupational health, counselling services, flexible working arrangements, and signposting to local support organisations. Professional Midwifery Advocates (PMAs) provided accessible support, restorative clinical supervision, and professional advocacy. They were readily available, with a weekly rota shared on noticeboards, and all midwives knew how to contact them.

Staff had access to psychologists to discuss difficult or distressing clinical events and could use the trust’s Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for confidential wellbeing support. Safety midwives were available to offer guidance, debriefing, and advice.

Newly qualified midwives told us that the service offered them a preceptorship programme to help them gain confidence in their new role. They told us how beneficial this programme had been to support and develop them.

The service used the 2024 staff survey and an externally facilitated culture survey to identify six themes for improvement. The 2025 staff survey response rate was up 103% when compared to 2024 and showed improvements across all areas, demonstrating strengthened staff engagement.

Managers encouraged staff to hold each other to account, and the team had created an “accept/don’t accept” behavioural charter aligned with trust values. This supported consistent professional conduct, empowered staff to challenge behaviours constructively.

Staff nominated colleagues whose kindness, teamwork or compassionate care had a significant impact, to the trust’s ‘Star of the Month’ awards.