2010 Survey
The 2010 National Maternity Survey explored the health and experiences of maternity care for women who gave birth in England in October or November 2009. The survey recruited women through the Office for National Statistics using the register of all births in England. Women were invited to take part in the survey three months after giving birth and a total of 5,333 women returned postal or online questionnaires, a response rate of 54%.
For the first time in the National Maternity Surveys, an online version of the questionnaire was made available to all survey participants; only 8% of those women who responded used this method of return.
The 2010 National Maternity Survey found that most women were positive about most of their maternity care, although satisfaction with postnatal care was lower highlighting this as an area of concern. In addition to differences between phases of care, there were differences between women with varying clinical needs and between women with different individual and other characteristics. These differences emphasised the need both to respond to the individual, and to provide a service which meets the needs of the whole population of child-bearing women and their families.
A report of the findings from the 2010 National Maternity Survey (“Delivered with care”) is available to download here:
