St Richard's 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 this key question was not rated. At this assessment the rating was good. This meant people’s needs were met through good organisation and delivery.

Women were involved in decisions about their care. The service provided information women could understand. Women knew how to give feedback and were confident the service took it seriously and acted on it.

Women were involved in planning their care and understood options around choosing to withdraw or not receive care.

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.

We scored the service as 3. The service made sure people were at the centre of their care and treatment choices and they decided, in partnership with women, how to respond to any relevant changes in women’s needs.

Women had the option of having a home birth and they were advised to have counselling to support them in making a choice regarding their birthing choice. Women felt involved in planning and making decisions about their care which was responsive to their needs. They reported staff worked together and supported them to plan their care and the birth of their baby.

The findings of the Maternity survey 2025 showed that when women were asked about being offered a choice on where to have their baby the service scored 9.4, which was above the national average of 8.5 when compared to all other trusts in England.

The service had 2 consultant midwives; part of their role was to support women who chose to birth outside of guidance and provided women with up-to-date guidance and options available to make decisions about their birthing journey.

Birth outside of guidance describes women who make decisions that are different from those recommended by the trust or national maternity guidance. For example, women who have health conditions or risk factors which mean they are recommended to have their baby within the obstetric setting.

The service provided a patient triage telephone line 24 hours, 7 days a week for patients to speak with a trained midwife about any concerns they may have. Women felt they received the appropriate advice and support when contacting a midwife and the trust scored 9.1 out of 10 for advice given to women at the start of labour in the CQC Maternity survey 2025.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service understood the diverse health and care needs of women and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity.

The trust aimed to improve targeted interventions to reduce the risk of health inequalities particularly for women most affected.

The maternity service used statistical process control (SPC) charts to allow early identification of changing rates in maternity data and to action an early response to any concerns or themes or trends identified. For example, the trust monitored the percentage of women most at risk of health inequalities. This helped the trust understand the needs of women from diverse groups and co‑produce targeted improvements and services to reduce health inequalities.

Specialist midwives identified and supported women with specific support which included the refugee service, drug and alcohol support and teenage pregnancy. There was a proactive approach to understanding the needs of different groups of people and delivering care that met their needs.

The community midwives offered an on-call system for homebirths. The homebirth midwife would normally stay with women throughout the birth, even if the patient was transferred to hospital. The service reported that 2% of their births were homebirths in August 2025.

Midwives assessed women’s mood during antenatal visits and were able to signpost women who required further support for anxiety and depression or fear of pregnancy or giving birth. The Maternity survey 2025 showed that when women were asked about their mental health the service scored 8.4, which was just below the national average of 8.6 when compared to all other trusts in England. The service scored 9, the same as the national average when women were asked if they were given enough support during their pregnancy for their mental health.

Staff could access emergency mental health support 24 hours a day, 7-days a week for women with mental health problems and learning disabilities. The service had systems and specialist staff to help care for women in need of additional support or specialist intervention. For example, they had fetal wellbeing midwives and birth after thoughts midwives.

Senior leaders planned and organised maternity services with the maternity and neonatal voice partnership (MNVP), women using maternity services and staff, so that the service could meet the needs of the local population.

The service recognised an increase in women using doulas and independent midwives during birth. In response, it organised a birth worker event in January 2026 to share learning and experiences, and to provide information and support on trauma‑informed care and safer births.

We scored the service as 3. The service supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs.

The trust website included virtual tours of the maternity units and provided information on maternity services.

Information on birth options and realistic expectations was provided to women and their partners during antenatal appointments and through information on the trust website.

Antenatal education on birth options and realistic expectations was provided to women and their partners. The aim of the antenatal education was to reduce fear, anxiety and postnatal depression and to improve birth experiences and wellbeing. The trust offered virtual and face to face antenatal sessions.

Managers communicated changes in national guidance through monthly newsletters, departmental alerts, during huddles and through presentations to staff. There were informative notice boards around the maternity unit displaying best practice guidance for breastfeeding.

The trust scored 7.4/10 for receiving the information and explanations they needed after birth in the Maternity survey 2025.

We scored the service as 3. The service made it easy for women to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. They involved women in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result.

The trust recognised that women were becoming more informed and aware of their options during the pregnancy and birth of their baby and were working to improve birth experiences for women.

The trust had a ‘voice of the user’ section on their maternity dashboard, where maternity leaders monitored themes from women and their families. The dashboard showed friends and family test results, formal complaints, duty of candour compliance, number of obstetric claims and maternity and neonatal voice partnership meetings (MNVP).

The service displayed information about how to raise a concern and give feedback on care or experience of the service on notice boards around the unit. Leaders told us they shared feedback from women with staff and the trust board.

In August 2025 for the percentage of women and their families who would recommend maternity services was 93.02%.

The service received 11 complaints between April 2025 to September 2025 and there were 3 complaints still open to an investigation, with 1 of those complaints exceeding their 60 working day closure target.

The most common theme of complaints was due to clinical incidents. These were broken down into failure to diagnose, inappropriate procedure, awareness under anaesthetic and delay or failure to undertake scans.

Complaints were shared within the monthly safety champions report and presented at the maternity and neonatal clinical leaders meeting and the maternity and neonatal patient safety meeting.

Staff knew how to handle complaints effectively and the head of midwifery reviewed all complaints and responses.

We scored the service as 3. The service made sure that women could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.

Women had equal access to care, treatment, and support. The service worked with local maternity and neonatal systems (LMNS) and maternity and neonatal voice partnership (MNVP) to identify barriers to women accessing maternity care and discuss improvements.

The trust’s maternity dashboard showed in August 2025 74.74% of women who saw a midwife for their 10-week booking appointment.

The NHS guidance is for a first midwife appointment (also called the booking appointment) to be before the women is 10 weeks pregnant. This is because some tests may need to be done before 10 weeks. It was unclear whether the service was in the process of improving access for women.

From September 2024 to August 2025 there were 3 incidences where the maternity service had identified capacity issues and the trust escalation procedure had been activated. However, the demand was managed within the trust and there were no incidences of pregnant women diverted to other trusts. The maternity directorate discussed themes and learning from complaints at the monthly quality and safety meetings. At a divisional level, themes, learning, and timeline performance was discussed monthly at the divisional quality governance forum.

The trust provided data for all four maternity locations which showed there were 103 women readmitted into maternity from February 2025 to July 2025.

Following ongoing concerns with delays in induction of labour (IOL) had updated guidelines and formed an IOL discussion group to listen to concerns and explain emerging plans and next steps so all women having an induction of labour followed the same process.

The service had a pathway and were a pilot site for self-administration of medication on the postnatal wards, to allow women independence.

The service worked with local maternity and neonatal systems (LMNS) and maternity and neonatal voice partnership (MNVP) to identify barriers to women accessing maternity care and discuss improvements. The MNVP did this by providing a survey to women using maternity services, talking to women at baby groups and through accessing social media.

Women reported their additional needs and were supported by the service. For example, the service had mental health midwives and specialist bereavement midwives to support women.

The service gave women a discharge date when they booked in for a planned caesarean section. This allowed women to plan discharge arrangements and family support if needed.

We scored the service as 3. Staff and leaders actively listened to information about women who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this.

Leaders monitored outcomes and investigated demographic data to identify when treatment and outcomes differed for different groups of women. Equity in experiences formed part of divisional quality meetings and was part of the work that the Maternal and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP) were involved in.

The service provided 100% 1 to 1 care to women in labour, this meant women received personalised care and support during their labour and delivery. One‑to‑one care during labour improved outcomes for women and babies, reduced medical intervention, and supported more positive birth experiences by providing continuous support from a dedicated midwife or birth worker.

To improve women’s experiences of birth, the service developed birth education classes online and face to face. and reduce the number of women experiencing a traumatic birth. The aim of the classes was to lower the risk of birth trauma, reduce fear, anxiety and postnatal depression and to improve birth experiences and wellbeing.

Staff and leaders actively listened to information about women who were most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this. For example, the service had a continuity of care team for homebirths. A continuity of care team for homebirths, often referred to as Midwifery Continuity of Carer (MCoC), improves safety, reduced intervention rates, and enhanced the overall experience for the pregnant person.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. Women were supported to plan for important life changes, so they could have enough time to make informed decisions about their future, including at the end of their life.

Women could get information and advice that was accurate, up to date, and provided in a way they could understand to plan for their birth. The service supported women to make informed choices about their care. This was achieved through health promotion information, antenatal classes, appointments with midwives, birth plan documents, information leaflets, and resources available on the maternity page of the trust’s website.

Women were supported to make decisions to improve their overall health. This included stopping smoking and making healthy eating choices.

Women were clear about discharge plans and who to contact with any concerns. Discharge summaries were shared electronically with health visitors and GPs and follow up arrangements were made prior to discharge.