Since summer 2019, NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB have been working with patients and the public to gather views about maternity services in the area.
Following our engagement work in 2019/20, we reached out to organisations and local stakeholders in 2021 to find out how services had changed for patients as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are now looking to form a panel of people from Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent who have used local maternity services in the last two years, are currently using maternity services or might be planning on using maternity services in the coming years.
Background
Maternity services in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent are provided by two health trusts – University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM), and University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB).
Maternity services had to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in births being suspended temporarily at the Freestanding Midwife-Led Birth Units (FMBUs) at County Hospital, Stafford, and at Samuel Johnson Community Hospital in Lichfield. This allowed staff from these units to support the larger units at Royal Stoke University Hospital and Queen’s Hospital in Burton.
Current situation
Births at the FMBUs have remained suspended since 2020. Staffing challenges in the maternity workforce are preventing both trusts from being able to safely reopen these units.
Although homebirths have been available at times since the pandemic, both trusts suspended their homebirth service earlier this year until further notice.
Our engagement aims
We want to find out:
- what matters to local people about maternity services, with a focus on the FMBUs
- if views about maternity services have changed since 2021 when the last involvement activity took place
- people’s knowledge of the maternity services available and where they are located
- how best to communicate key messages about the maternity services to the public.
If you join the panel we will note how you prefer to be contacted and involved and depending on your preferred method we may ask you to join a group discussion, have a one-to-one interview or fill out a survey for us – and depending on what’s most appropriate for you, you can do this in person, online or over the phone.
We will contact everyone who registers their interest in the coming months with more detailed information on our upcoming panels and how you can contribute.
If you would like to take part in this panel, please follow the link to register your interest: https://nhs.welcomesyourfeedback.net/kkm6f2.
We will contact everyone who registers their interest in the coming months with further information on our upcoming panels and how you can contribute.
Many thanks
Engagement and Involvement
Communications & Engagement Service
NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit
NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.midlandsandlancashirecsu.nhs.uk
