Queen Alexandra 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

We looked for evidence that women were always treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. We checked that women’s 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.

Caring was not inspected or rated at the last inspection. At this inspection caring was rated as good.

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.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Women and their families we spoke to, felt they were treated with kindness, compassion, and dignity. Midwives took time to interact with women and those close to them in a respectful and considerate way.

The service received positive feedback from the women and their families who used it. Feedback from women and their families was gained through the friends and family test (FFT) and the birth stories service.

Staff listened to women and communicated effectively with them. Feedback from women showed they felt staff were kind and were supportive. Feedback provided to the trust stated, “Had the best midwife experience during our birth. Midwife went above and beyond for us including listening to our birth plan and sticking to it. Absolutely amazing”. “Throughout every process it was so personal and supportive every person I interacted with treated me with care”.

The service worked closely and had positive relationships with the local Maternity and Neonatal Voices partnership (MNVP). The MNVP engaged regularly with senior leaders to ensure voices of women were heard and feedback was passed on.

The CQC Maternity survey 2025, showed trust scored 9.0, the same as the national average for the question, “Thinking about your care during labour and birth, were you treated with kindness and compassion?”

Feedback received for postnatal care was not as positive and the following questions “Thinking about the care you received in hospital after the birth of your baby, were you treated with kindness and understanding?” scored 7.6 compared to the national average of 8.4.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. 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’s individual needs and preferences were understood, and this was reflected in the care, treatment and support they received during their pregnancy and birthing journey. Staff were understanding and had a non-judgmental attitude when caring for or discussing women with mental health needs.

We saw staff give emotional support and advice to women and women told us they felt supported during their pregnancy and birth.

Women were supported throughout their maternity journey and were able to access advice and care when needed. Women told us, staff listened and made themselves available throughout the unit.

The CQC maternity survey showed the service was in line with the national average for taking women’s personal circumstances into account when giving advice and for staff asking women about their mental health.

Maternity and neonatal voice partnership (MNVP) used various methods to engage with women using maternity services. The health inequalities lead for the trust worked closely with women and the MNVP to provide equitable access to maternity services. For example, the MNVP worked alongside a local Muslim organisation to create a listening event in September 2025 for local Muslim women to discuss their experiences with maternity and neonatal services within Portsmouth.

The event gave women from the Muslim community an opportunity to share their birth experiences and identify areas for improvement. For example, women in the group felt there should be a better understanding of cultural sensitivity in maternity care and women preferred to be treated by a female obstetrician. The service responded by providing a female obstetrician to women when requested, when possible, to support Muslim women.

The MNVP lead told us the aim was to continue to work alongside other communities to develop further listening events for women who use the local maternity and neonatal services.

The service provided support for families experiencing pregnancy loss under 24 weeks. This included a monthly miscarriage support group jointly funded by gynaecology and maternity services. Women ending or considering ending a pregnancy for medical reasons were directed to antenatal results and choices (ARC), which offered a national helpline staffed by trained advisers.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

Maternity staff were supportive and responded to women’s needs. Women fed back to the trust that they felt safe throughout their pregnancy and birthing journey.

The service offered a birth reflections service, which gave women and their families the opportunity to talk about their personal birth experiences. Birth reflections was an opportunity to understand why certain decisions were made and to understand what happened during their birth.

The MNVP worked against a work plan to identify what women want within maternity services, feedback and improvement and women were supported to make decisions throughout their pregnancy journey.

The MNVP completed an annual 15 Steps review across maternity and neonatal services, with the last taking place in 2024 at Queen Alexandra. The 15 Steps is to assess and gather feedback from service users focusing on their first impressions and overall experiences of the service.

Recommendations and actions identified through the review were incorporated into the safety improvement plan and were monitored through the enhanced support and oversight group. The service reported this assurance process meant women’s voices were at the forefront to the quality and safety developments.

The service had a comprehensive 7day bereavement service to make sure there was consistent support for women and their families experiencing pregnancy loss or neonatal death. Women and their families could access the bereavement team for as long as they required support and the team supported women during any future pregnancies.

The service used HOPE (hold on, pain eases) boxes to support women where the local authority was planning a separation at birth. The boxes were created with women with lived experience; one for the mother and one for the baby, they contained carefully chosen items intended to provide comfort, reduce trauma, and offer support as they navigate the child protection and family justice systems. HOPE boxes included blankets, teddy and memory cards.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to women’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

Maternity staff were supportive and responded to women’s needs. Women fed back to the trust that they felt safe throughout their pregnancy and birthing journey.

The service offered a birth reflections service, which gave women and their families the opportunity to talk about their personal birth experiences. Birth reflections was an opportunity to understand why certain decisions were made and to understand what happened during their birth.

The service had a specialist bereavement midwife to support care for grieving parents. Women and their families could access the bereavement team for as long as they required support and the team support women during any future pregnancies.

We scored the service as 2. Staff did not always feel senior leaders listened to staff concerns. Staff felt their wellbeing was not always promoted and there was a lack of person-centred care.

The service provided us with the NHS trust staff survey results, but the results did not identify the results for maternity services. The service told us there had been an overall improvement from the previous staff survey for maternity staff but there was no data to review this.

There were ongoing concerns regarding the attitudes of some senior maternity and medical staff within the maternity unit and how this was being managed. Some staff told us they felt there was a lack of support and information regarding the attitudes of others which had meant a difficult working environment.

Staff within inpatient and community services told us they felt tired and burnt out due to high acuity and low staffing due to sickness.

However, staff felt senior leaders cared about their wellbeing, supported them and felt valued. Maternity staff had access to trust wellbeing services including psychological support following an incident.

Professional Midwifery Advocates (PMA) provided pastoral support and restorative supervision to staff. All staff had access to PMAs across maternity services for restorative clinical supervision sessions and support, all staff groups involved in an incident were allocated a PMA for post incident support. Post incident support included a hot debrief and collaboration with the trust Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team to provide a formal debrief. PMA support was offered to all staff including maternity support workers.