Mums say King's Mill offers some of best maternity care in country

But they needn’t have worried. All their nerves and fears were extinguished by the expertise and professionalism of the maternity-unit staff at King’s Mill Hospital in Sutton.

And it is no surprise to the Williamsons that new mums have now voted King’s Mill as one of the best hospitals in the country to give birth, according to a the results of a patient-satisfaction survey.

Sam, who is 35, couldn’t praise the staff highly enough after the birth of her daughter, Kitty-Mae. “They were absolutely brilliant throughout my birth experience,” she said.

“Despite it being a tough birth and not quite as I had planned, I would describe all the staff we encountered as being outstanding.

“They were always full of encouragement and support the whole way through, and without them, I just don’t think I could have done it.”

Sam’s views have been echoed by dozens of other mums because a national survey, overseen by the Care Quality Commission, puts Sherwood Forest Hospitals, which runs King’s Mill, near the top of the table of NHS Trusts in the UK when it comes to women giving birth.

The survey asked 18,400 women across the country who gave birth in February, 2017 to tell of their experiences. The data covered 130 NHS Trusts, and a total of 113 responses came from mums who had given birth at King’s Mill.

Among the areas in which the hospital scored highly were:

PARTNERS being involved as much as they wanted to be;

THE mother being able to move around and choose a comfortable position during the birth;

NEW mums being given skin-to-skin contact;

AND the family feeling they were being treated with dignity and respect.

Sam continued: “I wanted to be active throughout the birth, but I decided to have an epidural, which meant I couldn’t be as active as I would have liked.

“However, the midwives still supported me to be as active as I could, and helped me to move around when I needed to. They also encouraged me to involve my husband, Paul.

“All the midwives and doctors made sure we were given the information we needed in a friendly way, and they addressed every concern we had. We cannot fault them, and we are just so grateful to them.”

Paul, 56, was at Sam’s side throughout the birth and was also impressed with every facet of the care offered by the maternity unit. He said: “It was really important to me that I could be involved in the birth and be there with Sam to support her.

“The midwives agreed and involved me in everything -- from showing me how the monitoring equipment worked, so that I could encourage Sam at every contraction, to being able to bond with Kitty-Mae once she was born and to stay in the room with Sam.

“There are some really special staff at King’s Mill Hospital who went above and beyond the call of duty while we were in their care.

“They treated us like a friend, not a number. The most precious thing to us now is our new baby, and I would trust them with her life. What more can I say?”

The hospital staff were delighted to hear the praise, and the results of the survey, feeling they reflected improvements that have been made to the maternity service.

The head of midwifery, Alison Whitham, said: “The care we provide to women and their babies, and the experience they have while with us, is very important, and so we are really proud to have been recognised as one of the top Trusts in the country. This is testament to the hard work and dedication of our fantastic maternity team at King’s Mill.

“We are particularly pleased that we are performing above most Trusts when it comes to giving birth and labour, that our patients feel they are able to involve their partner in the experience, and that new mums feel that our midwives treat them with the respect and dignity that they deserve.

“One of the things that we did last year to help us to improve our maternity services was to hold a Whose Shoes event, which involved King’s Mill Hospital midwives and new mums coming together to talk about their experiences and inform future improvements.

“Feedback direct from patients is really important to us, and we always encourage families to let us know about their experience. We are now looking at the survey results in more detail to see what action we can take to improve even further and to offer even better care to our maternity patients.”