Queens Hospital

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

We looked for evidence that women and communities were always at the centre of how care was planned and delivered. We checked that the health and care needs of women and communities were understood, and they were actively involved in planning care that met these needs. We also looked for evidence that women could access care in ways that met their personal circumstances and protected equality characteristics.

At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good.

This meant people’s needs were met through clear organisation and delivery.

We have not awarded this service a score for Responsive.

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

The service made sure people were at the centre of their care and treatment choices and they decided, in partnership with people, how to respond to any relevant changes in people’s needs.

Women received person-centred care that reflected their individual needs, preferences and circumstances. Staff worked in partnership with women and their supporters to ensure they were involved in decisions about their care and treatment wherever possible. We saw staff take account of the views of people important to women when planning and reviewing care.

The service had developed tools to support women in making informed choices about their care. These tools helped women identify concerns, consider professional advice and recommendations, and express their preferences for how care should be planned and delivered. The tools promoted effective communication and shared decision-making between women and staff, supporting personalised care and ensuring women's views and choices were clearly recorded and understood.

Care plans were personalised and reflected women’s physical, mental, emotional and social needs. They also considered individual requirements relating to protected characteristics and ensured women were supported in a way that promoted equality and inclusion. Women with additional or complex needs received tailored care and support to help achieve the best possible outcomes.

Staff completed comprehensive risk assessments to identify and respond to specific needs, including nutrition, hydration, mobility and falls risks. They made reasonable adjustments to support women with complex needs and help them maintain their independence. Women living with mental health conditions, learning disabilities or mobility challenges were supported to access the care and treatment they needed, and staff adapted care to meet their individual requirements.

All women had an individualised care plan in place throughout pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period. These plans were developed collaboratively between women and their midwives and reflected women’s choices and preferences. Where appropriate, care planning also involved others who supported the woman, including independent midwives and doulas, to ensure care was coordinated around the woman’s wishes and needs. A doula is a non-medical companion who can provide physical, emotional, and informational support to a woman before, during, and after childbirth.

The service employed two consultant midwives who provided specialist support to women with high-risk pregnancies and complex care needs. They worked closely with women and multidisciplinary teams to develop personalised care plans and ensure women were fully involved in decisions about their care.

To meet the individual care needs of women and babies the service employed 23 Band 7 and 25 Band 6 cross site specialist midwives. These included midwives with specialisms in diabetes, bereavement, substance misuse, infant feeding, fetal monitoring, and premature births.

The service understood the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity.

Women received care and treatment from services that understood and responded to the diverse health and social care needs of their local community. Care was planned and delivered in partnership with women, ensuring their individual needs, preferences, and circumstances were identified and reflected throughout their maternity journey.

Midwives worked collaboratively with community midwives, specialist midwifery teams, obstetric staff, and other relevant healthcare professionals to provide integrated and coordinated care. This multidisciplinary approach supported effective communication between services and promoted continuity of care across antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal pathways.

Women were offered antenatal discussions and meetings to explore any additional health, social, cultural, or safeguarding needs, enabling personalised care plans to be developed and reviewed as required. Staff demonstrated an understanding of the importance of providing responsive care and adapting support to meet individual needs.

The trust demonstrated a responsive approach to service delivery and was working to improve women's experience of antenatal care. Traditionally, women attended separate appointments for ultrasound scans and consultant reviews. The trust was developing a pathway to enable women to have both appointments on the same day, reducing the number of visits required and making access to care more convenient and responsive to women's needs.

The service used guides from a national charity to support autistic women to feel confident and informed throughout their pregnancy, labour and postnatal period. The guides offered advice and information to ensure women understood their rights and how the service should make reasonable adjustments during their healthcare. The guides were intended to help women, where appropriate, create a care plan they could share with staff. This was so staff understood the needs of the women better to ensure the care provided was inclusive and respectful.

Women’s chosen birth partners and significant others were involved in planning and decision-making where this was the woman's preference. This approach helped ensure care remained woman-centred, promoted shared decision-making, and supported positive experiences of maternity services.

Feedback and records reviewed demonstrated that care was well coordinated between hospital and community teams, helping to ensure women experienced continuity of support and access to the appropriate services throughout their pregnancy and postnatal period.

The service supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs.

Women were provided with appropriate, accurate, and up-to-date information to support their care and access to services.

The trust had an Accessible Information Standard (AIS) policy to ensure people with sensory loss, learning disabilities, or other communication needs received information in a format they could understand. 

Interpretation services were available face-to-face, over the telephone, or by video for British Sign Language (BSL).  to support effective communication. Staff could also access an electronic translation device to provide instant translation of written information.

Women had access to posters with QR codes so women could access important safety information in commonly spoken languages (English, Arabic, Sorani, Romanian, Urdu, Slovak, and Hungarian). There was an option to access this information in over 100 other languages.

The service had developed a trusted resources list to ensure that all external resources used to provide information and support to women and their relatives, including posters and leaflets, contained safe and appropriate medical information. 

Information about the service, health promotion, pregnancy, breastfeeding and how to provide feedback was displayed throughout the unit. Much of this information was accessible through QR codes, enabling people to access resources electronically and translate information into their preferred language when required. This helped ensure information was accessible and responsive to the needs of the diverse population served by the trust.

The service made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. They involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result.

People were encouraged and supported to share feedback, raise concerns and make complaints about their care, treatment and support. Information on how to provide feedback or make a complaint was readily available through the trust’s website, which outlined the different routes available, including online, written and verbal complaints, and provided clear information about expected response times.

During May 2026, maternity services received 13 formal complaints which was within the expected range of between 6 and 21 complaints each month. The most common complaint themes identified in May related to communication with patients (2), inadequate monitoring (2), and accuracy of records (2). 

Staff we spoke with understood the complaints process and were able to explain how they would support people wishing to raise concerns. This included signposting patients to the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) and providing relevant information and leaflets. Staff told us complaints were reviewed regularly by senior leaders to ensure concerns were thoroughly investigated and responded to appropriately.

PALS had 18 patient contacts in May 2026. Most contacts related to concerns about the service rather than formal complaints. Communication with patients remained the most frequently reported concern (2), alongside requests for debrief discussions (2). 

The service actively sought and responded to feedback from people who used the service. Patient surveys were used to gather views and experiences, and we saw evidence that feedback had informed service changes. ‘You Said, We Did’ posters were displayed within patient areas and clearly demonstrated how suggestions from women and families had been listened to and acted upon to improve the service.

The service welcomed feedback from women and their families and displayed information about how to raise concerns across the unit. Women and their families could complete the friends and family test (FFT) on the unit. In the 12 months before our inspection the service received 671 responses to the family and friend's test. Of those 611 responses or 91% were positive about the services women received. Patient satisfaction levels within maternity services were consistently good. The latest data demonstrated a maternity satisfaction rate of 92.62% in April 2026 and 92.61% in May. 

The trust performed similarly to other NHS trusts in England across most areas of the CQC Maternity Survey for women who gave birth between 1 and 28 February 2025.

Results relating to women’s ability to raise concerns were positive, with the trust scoring 7.9 out of 10, which was in line with the national average. Women also reported having similar opportunities to ask questions about their care, with the trust scoring 5.8 out of 10, comparable to other trusts.

Women generally felt involved in decisions about their care during labour and birth. The trust scored 8.3 out of 10 for this measure, which was consistent with the performance of other maternity services nationally.

Overall, the survey findings indicate that women’s experiences of raising concerns, asking questions, and being involved in decisions about their care were broadly comparable with those reported by women receiving maternity care at other trusts across England.

Leaders demonstrated a commitment to ensuring the voices of women and families influenced service development and improvement. A part-time Patient Safety Partner was employed to represent the patient perspective across the service. They attended governance meetings, improvement project groups and maternity oversight meetings, contributing the experiences and views of people using the service. Staff told us this role helped ensure patient feedback remained central to decision-making, quality improvement and safety discussions.

The service made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.

The service had sufficient capacity to meet women’s needs. There were enough beds for the number of women accessing the service, and communication between triage and the labour ward mostly ensured women were assessed and cared for in the most appropriate area. The unit had a dedicated maternity theatre for emergency caesarean sections and other obstetric procedures. Staff could also access a second theatre within gynaecology when required, which supported safe and timely care during periods of increased demand.

Women were able to access the unit as needed. The maternity unit had not been closed in the last 12 months. The service promoted equitable access to maternity care through a range of referral pathways. Women could access services through self-referral or referral by a healthcare professional, helping to remove barriers to care and supporting timely engagement with maternity services.

The service monitored delays for induction of labour and elective caesarean sections. The data demonstrated delays to the commencement of induction of labour greater than six hours from admission to the induction area were infrequent and generally occurred as isolated events. Similarly, delays of greater than six hours from the decision to commence medicine to speed up labour to transfer to an appropriate delivery room for 1:1 care were low. 

The most significant area of delay related to women awaiting transfer to a delivery room for artificial rupture of membranes. The delays were reflective of fluctuations in labour ward acuity, bed availability and competing clinical priorities. There were also intermittent episodes where admission for induction was delayed beyond the planned date. These occasional spikes in number corresponded with periods of increased service demand and capacity pressure. Delays associated with prolonged spontaneous rupture of membranes (over 24 hours) and planned induction of labour were rare. Delays of greater than 24 hours for scheduled elective caesarean sections occurred infrequently and were created by operational pressures, including emergency theatre activity, maternity acuity, bed capacity and workforce availability, which necessitate the reprioritisation of care according to clinical urgency. 

Women affected by delays received ongoing clinical assessment and review, with escalation processes in place to ensure maternal and fetal wellbeing was maintained. Women could access the telephone triage and/or present at maternity triage 24 hours a day. Staff told us, it was the practice in Queen's Hospital Burton that when women identified by telephone triage were in advanced labour they were advised to go directly to labour ward but were then redirected to triage by labour ward staff. This resulted in women not being seen in the most appropriate setting according to their risk categorisation. All women who presented with hyperemesis gravidarum at any gestation were seen in maternity triage, however, this created further delays where they could have been seen in gynaecology. 

Women whose first language was not English were advised to attend triage in person rather than be assessed by telephone, reducing the risk of symptoms being misunderstood or lost in translation.

The service monitored performance against booking appointment targets and waiting times, helping leaders identify and address any delays in access to care. Staff also worked closely with specialist midwives to support women with complex mental health and social care needs, ensuring they received appropriate, individualised support.

Women and babies requiring referral or transfer between services were supported throughout their care journey, helping to ensure continuity of care and equitable access to specialist services when required.

The service made reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of women with additional mobility requirements. Staff had access to appropriate equipment, including suitable birthing beds, commodes and other mobility aids, to support women during their stay. This helped to promote comfort, maintain independence and ensure care was delivered safely.

The service also took steps to support the privacy, dignity and individual preferences of people with protected characteristics. There was sufficient single-room accommodation available for women who required or preferred greater privacy. For example, transgender people could give birth and receive care in a private environment if they wished. These arrangements helped ensure care was responsive to individual needs and enabled people to access maternity services in a way that respected their dignity and personal circumstances.

Staff and leaders actively listened to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this.

Leaders planned and organised maternity services to promote equitable access and ensure women could receive support when they needed it. Women had access to maternity services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through both face-to-face services and a dedicated telephone triage line. This enabled women to seek timely advice, assessment and support regardless of the time of day. The telephone triage service was staffed by trained midwives who could respond to concerns, provide reassurance, and arrange further assessment where required. These arrangements helped ensure women could access care in a way that met their individual needs and reduced barriers to accessing urgent maternity support.

To reduce inequalities and make coordinated efforts to reduce barriers to care and treatment the service employed 8 antenatal and newborn (ANNB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) specialist midwives. This ensured the service were able to deliver the 6 ANNB screening programmes in line with national guidance.

Leaders were working with the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP) to improve access to maternity services for women from a range of cultural backgrounds and ethnic minority groups. They had identified and were responding to the needs of local communities who may experience barriers to accessing care or poorer health outcomes.

Leaders described plans to broaden this work to support other groups who were more likely to experience inequalities in maternity care and outcomes. This included women from travelling communities and transgender people.

The service promoted equitable experiences and outcomes for women with a learning disability by using hospital passports to support access to healthcare services. These contained personalised information about each woman, helping healthcare professionals understand their individual communication needs, preferences, and support requirements.

The passports included details about how women communicated, how they might express pain or discomfort, signs that could indicate anxiety or distress, and information about their likes, dislikes, and routines. This enabled healthcare staff to make reasonable adjustments and provide care that was tailored to the person's needs. The passports also helped ensure women were understood, involved in decisions about their care, and experienced more positive outcomes from the service.

We did not look at Planning for the future during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.