St Peter's 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, birthing people and their families were treated with compassion and kindness. They felt staff responded to their needs and were supportive.

Women and birthing people felt staff listened to them and communicated with them appropriately, in a way they could understand.

The caring key question was not rated in the last assessment. During this assessment we rated 4 quality statements and rated the service as ‘Good’.

This service scored 70 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

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, birthing people and their partners told us staff treated them with kindness, they felt respected, and their privacy and dignity were maintained. Staff listened to their wishes and updated women and birthing people regularly regarding changes within their care. Women and birthing people felt staff listened to them and communicated with them appropriately, in a way they could understand.

There were positive, caring interventions by staff, who took time to ensure women and birthing people’s needs were understood and met. Feedback comments from women and birthing people showed they were happy with the care they received and the views of people who used services and partners were listened to and considered.

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 and birthing people’s views were represented, and maternity services were designed to meet local needs.

They worked together to determine how accessible information was and what was needed to improve care and choice for all women and birthing people. MNVP held quarterly meetings with the service to escalate feedback from women and birthing people to maternity leads. MNVP leads reported that they had easy access to the senior leadership team to escalate any concerns promptly, and to make a difference to services provided to women and birthing partners.

Data from the NHS ‘Friends and Family Survey’ from February 2025 showed 92% of women and birthing people felt they were treated with kindness and compassion. Feedback was shared with staff so they were aware of the themes and comments from women, birthing people and their families. The trust provided all staff with training on compassionate care and equality, diversity and inclusion training.

Staff provided bereavement care for women who had experienced a stillbirth or neonatal (newborn baby) loss. There was a specialist bereavement midwife and a set process to care for grieving parents.

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

Women and birthing people’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. Women and birthing people told us they felt listened to regarding their concerns and anxieties when making decisions about their care.

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

Emotional support and advice were available when women and birthing people needed it. The service had a bereavement suite for women and support from a bereavement specialist midwife.

The service promoted women and birthing people’s independence, so they knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and well being.

Women and birthing people told us they felt midwifery staff listened and supported them to make decisions throughout their pregnancy journey. They felt supported to follow their birth plans.

The service regularly engaged with the maternity and neonatal voice partnership lead to gain feedback of maternity services from women and birthing people.

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

Staff listened to and understood women and birthing people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to women and birthing people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

Maternity staff were supportive and attentive to women and birthing people’s needs and made them feel safe. Women told us they did not have to wait for pain relief medicines and call bells were answered promptly.

Staff told us they felt women and birthing people were given choices and that their decisions were followed. However, occasionally for safety reasons, if plans needed to change, they were agreed where possible.

A birth reflections and birth support service were available to give women, birthing people and their partners the opportunity to talk about their birth experience, to gain a greater understanding of the events around their birth. The birth reflections service provided feedback and learning to staff during maternity matters training.

Maternity staff told us they felt tired and burnt out following numerous changes to the maternity unit. Senior leaders told us they recognised staff concerns and they were focused on promoting the wellbeing of their staff and supporting staff to deliver person-centred care.

The maternity service was currently going through another period of change with a new senior leadership team recently in place. This meant there had been several changes to the service introduced within a short space of time. Staff recognised there was a need for change within the service. However, not all staff felt communication was fed down from the senior leadership team.

There had been several changes since the Director of Midwifery (DOM) and Head of Midwifery (HOM) started in post and not all staff felt communication was fed down to the ground level which had caused anxiety around changes within the service, especially to the band 7 Maternity Operational Coordinator (MOC).

A perinatal culture and staff survey improvement plan was in place. The plan was managed by the people and culture workstream as part of the Maternity and Neonatal Improvement plan. Senior leaders had introduced ‘You said, We did’ actions which were shared on the safety champion boards around the unit as well as via newsletters and at team meetings.

Midwifery staff told us that shift leads tried their best to make sure all staff had breaks, and we saw this during our assessment.

Staff told us that they received support from leaders after an incident and felt feedback following incidents had improved. There was opportunity for receiving feedback from debriefs and there were professional midwifery advocates in place to support and improve the wellbeing of midwives within their clinical practice.