A message to our families

We have been reflecting on our maternity services and the experiences of those who use them. We would like to share some of our thoughts and details with you about our ongoing work to improve our services.

A pregnancy journey can look different for everyone, it may be something you’ve planned and wanted for a very long time, you may have been on a long journey with challenges, or it may have been unexpected.

You may experience all kinds of emotions during your journey from excitement to fear, happy to sad and everything in between. During this time, the maternity care you receive, the choices you make, the questions you have and what matters to you is extremely important to all of us at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust.

Our maternity staff understand that pregnancy and birth is an experience personal to you and often tell us that being a part of your journey is a real privilege and the part of their job they enjoy the most. We want you to know that our maternity team are dedicated to making sure that your care is personal to you, caring and above all safe.

Feedback from our service users and recent media stories have raised concerns to us that, on behalf of the Trust, I want to personally acknowledge and apologise for.

For some of you in recent years the care provided has fallen below the standard we expect and has not been the care you deserve, and we are truly sorry that you may have experienced, or be worried about this, through the services we provide.

Our maternity services are on a journey of improvement. Over the past three years we have received reports and ongoing support from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), been part of the NHS England maternity safety support programme and invited independent experts in to support the review and planning of our services.

We have already made important progress with improvements but recognise there is more to do. Our leadership team are fully supporting staff to make meaningful changes as quickly and as safely as possible. You can find out more information on what we have done to make care safer for you.

We are focusing on:

• Recruiting more clinical staff to support mums and babies.
• Meeting national safety standards to ensure the highest levels of care.
• Implementing recommendations from recent reviews to strengthen our services.
• Improving communication with service users and their families so you feel heard, valued, and confident that your concerns are acted upon.
• Creating a positive and supportive culture within our maternity teams, so they can provide the best possible care for you.
• Strengthening how we monitor and track improvements, ensuring that we learn from the past and make real changes when things don’t go as they should.

Keeping you informed
We know that trust is built through listening, honesty, openness and action. We will continue to share updates on our progress and keep you informed about the steps we are taking to make maternity care more personalised, safe and compassionate.

You deserve the best possible care, and we are committed to getting this right for you and your baby.

We have made this section on our website to help answer any questions you may have, and so you can see the areas we are working on and what progress we are making.

You can find the latest update about where you can have your baby in Gloucestershire here.

We also really value your feedback and there are several ways you can share about your experience with us.

Yours sincerely

Kevin McNamara

Chief Executive, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust