9 out of 10 women happy with maternity care

Nine out of 10 women are happy with the maternity care they received, according to the report on the Maternity Services Consumer Satisfaction Survey 2007 launched today by Associate Health Minister Steve Chadwick.

"This is wonderful news for New Zealand women and their families. The survey demonstrates that our services are working well for the vast majority of women," Steve Chadwick said.

“Ninety per cent women gave birth and received post-natal care where they wanted to, and a similar proportion expressed overall satisfaction with their hospital stay.”

The survey also showed that women are better informed about maternity services and the majority felt well looked after by their lead maternity carer (LMC).

“Women, midwives and other maternity providers highly value our model of care and the seamless maternity services provided in New Zealand. I congratulate all the people and organisations that provide and support maternity services for their care and effort.”

The survey canvassed the views of 2936 women who gave birth to live babiesin New Zealand during March and April 2007. The objective of the survey was to obtain women’s perceptions of maternity services, and to assess whether there has been any change since women were last surveyed in 2002.

All key areas of maternity services (antenatal care, lead maternity care, hospital stay, and postnatal care) scored satisfaction levels of 90 per cent or higher.

“Compared to 2002, the latest survey found a greater percentage of women had difficulty finding a suitable LMC – this was not a surprise to us but is something the government and sector groups are working together to address.”

To address the shortage of midwives, the Ministry of Health has implemented a range of initiatives, including a pilot scheme to mentor first-year midwifery graduates as they join the workforce, providing funding support for rural midwives who face high travel costs, and increasing pay rates under the Section 88 Notice.

"New Zealand has a world class maternity system. These results show there have been improvements in key aspects of care and reflect a very high level of satisfaction with maternity services," Steve Chadwick said.

The report is available at: www.moh.govt.nz/maternity