Gloucester Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Nurse and baby

The Trust’s Maternity Insight Project is due to start in the spring and will support improvements to maternity services by gaining a better understanding of women’s experiences of care.

The project will gain insight by using the existing patient feedback tool, the Friends and Family Test (FFT), but in an enhanced way. Additional questions will prompt women to provide feedback about specific staff members who cared for them; this additional data will be collected via voice messaging and followed up with individual call backs where concerns are raised.

The plan is to provide women with the opportunity to give feedback about any staff who have cared for them. Women will be provided with information about this opportunity at their booking assessment and any consent requirements will be obtained at this point. The project will also be promoted on the maternity pages of our website, via social media channels and also through the use of posters throughout maternity areas.

The project will have very clear benefits:

For women and their families

  • Feeling involved in shaping local services and the potential to influence future services for other women
  • The ability to feed back (either positively or negatively) about individuals involved in their care
  • To feel their voices are heard and therefore to potentially avoid the formal complaints procedure
  • To have the opportunity to have a 1:1 phone call with trained staff if they want to talk through concerns.

For staff

  • For clinicians and staff to get personal, individual feedback rather than this being based on the broader service.
  • The ability for excellent care to be recognised through a staff recognition scheme
  • Feedback will used by the clinician to meet professional revalidation requirements
  • Where negative feedback is received, the opportunity for professional development via coaching.

Midwife Kate Harrison said: “We are delighted to have been successful in securing this funding from NHS England. We believe that the project will be a powerful tool for the women who respond to the FFT; enabling them to feel connected to those involved in their care. Our staff will also benefit from recognition and development opportunities as well as using the feedback for revalidation purposes.”

For more information please contact: Kate Jeal, Communications, 0300 422 3563, kate.jeal@glos.nhs.uk