Basingstoke and North Hampshire 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

Women and their families were treated with compassion and kindness throughout their maternity journey, and they felt staff listened and responded to their needs.

All staff, without exception, were positive about working in the maternity unit. They told us they felt valued by all levels of leadership and spoke extremely highly of the maternity senior leadership team.

Women were truly respected and valued as individuals; and empowered as partners in their care.

All staff told us the service was a positive place to work and to develop professionally. Student midwives were very much part of the team and student midwives felt safe and nurtured.

The caring key question was not rated in the last assessment. During this assessment we rated the service 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.

The service was exceptional at treating women with kindness. Staff truly showed empathy and compassion to women and their families. Women’s privacy and dignity was always respected. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Women and their families told us staff treated them with exceptional kindness, they felt respected, and their privacy and dignity were maintained.

Women reported that staff introduced themselves and asked how they were. This aligned with feedback from a Friends and Family Test where women used words such as “supportive”, “calm”, “caring”, and “attentive” to describe the service.

Friends and Family Test (FFT) data for Q1 2025/26 showed that the percentage of positive experiences at HHFT for intrapartum and postnatal care were above the national average.

Data was reported in the monthly quality governance report for the maternity family and friend’s programme and the percentage of positive experiences at the trust remained above the national overall percentage of positive experiences. The percentage of negative experiences was reported to be below the national percentage.

Leaders shared friends and family feedback to staff so that the service could identify where improvements in care could be made. There was a true focus within the service to continuously improve maternity services for women.

We spoke with the local maternity and neonatal voices partnership (MNVP) lead. The MNVP lead worked closely with the maternity teams to make sure women’s views were represented, and maternity services were designed to meet local needs.

The unit had a bereavement area where women and families could spend time after the birth of their baby. The area had specialist equipment such as cold cots, which would allow the family to spend several days with their baby after birth.

There was a specialist bereavement midwife and a set process to care for grieving parents. In cases where families could not leave the hospital with their baby due to complex social concerns the service provide them with treasured moment boxes or hope boxes which contained photographs, locks of hair and twin teddies or blankets, one for the mother and the other stays with the baby.

HOPE boxes were available for mothers’ experiencing separation from their baby through care proceedings. The HOPE Boxes contain carefully selected items to support a range of activities that may take place on the maternity ward before separation or during family time sessions. Each item is designed to help mothers develop and maintain their maternal identity following separation.

Bereavement midwives offered further support to women in their pregnancy who had previously experienced a baby loss. The service provided a weekly befriending clinic and an online support group for bereavement.

The trust had set up the ‘Forget me knot fund’ to support families by providing bereavement counselling and the fund sponsored a charity football team for bereaved fathers.

The service treated women as individuals and made sure women’s care, support and treatment met women’s needs and preferences.

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 understood and respected the individual needs of woman. Staff were understanding and non-judgmental attitude when caring for or discussing women with mental health needs.

Emotional support and advice to women was evident from talking to women during the assessment and from reviewing feedback and thank you emails and letters received from women. Staff were reported to be readily available to women. Staff listened and were visible. On the unit.

The trust had recently introduced applied culture training that provided learning techniques to help teams understand how workplace communication impacted safety culture. The training focused on birth rights and consent to improve complex discussions with women to manage and support their individual needs.

The service provided mindfulness boxes for women during induction of labour which had items like colouring books, distraction toys and massage oil. Positive birth boxes were available on labour ward containing birth combs, a lighting projection unit, massager and birth affirmations to personalise the birth environment.

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

Women and told us they felt listened to regarding their concerns and anxieties when making decisions about their care. Maternity services worked with the maternal mental health service to integrate psychology into maternity care for women with mental health needs following their maternity experience.

We reviewed positive feedback the service had received from women who had received care from the trust and maternal mental health service. Birthing experiences described as ‘very controlled and a beautiful experience’, ‘very supportive pre and post birth especially navigating health anxiety during pregnancy’ and ‘I felt heard and not so alone’.

The service regularly engaged with the maternity and neonatal voice partnership lead to gain feedback of maternity services from women. Women were fully supported to make decisions throughout their pregnancy journey. The consultant midwives discussed risks and concerns whilst respecting women’s wishes when developing birthing plans. Women told us they felt their voices were heard and women received informed choices.

Staff followed the trust policy to keep care and treatment confidential. We observed staff handovers, which were held away from where women or their families could hear discussions.

The service was exceptional in how they 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 fully supportive and attentive to women 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. This was an opportunity to understand why certain decisions were made and to understand what happened during their birth. Women who attended the birth reflections service provided feedback on the service such as, ‘it was reassurance that I didn’t do anything wrong, it wasn’t my fault’, ‘validation from a professional that my birth experience was a lot’ and ‘I had a sense of conclusion, relief, empowerment and appreciation’.

The birth equity group was represented by service users and provided feedback to the maternity service from women and their families. The group provided feedback and discussions from women of minority groups to understand their lived experiences.

The service made sure diversity, equality and equity were part of all staff training so the voices of women could be reflected within training.

The maternity service listened and upgraded accessible kitchen facilities; they monitored the demographics of complaints and shared themes relating to inequity, the birth equity group was represented by a service user at the antenatal and postnatal committee.

The Oak team provided support, facilitated access and built trusted relationships with vulnerable women to provide support and improve outcomes and experiences. The service had received exceptional feedback on the service, and the team were finalists in a recognised health journal for their work on improving community midwifery care for vulnerable women.

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

All staff, without exception, were positive about working in the maternity unit. They told us they were valued by all levels of leadership and spoke highly of the maternity senior leadership team.

Staff told us this was a positive place to work and to develop professionally. Student midwives were very much part of the team. Student midwives felt safe and nurtured.

Teams developed close multidisciplinary relationships which in turn improved the care of women, their family and their baby. Staff welcomed constructive challenge, and every member of the team had a voice to express themselves.

There was a good and safe culture within the department. Staff felt valued and listened to. The trust provided wellbeing support to staff and offered staff the opportunity to be wellbeing champions and wellbeing care packs.