Maternity teams at three hospitals in Cumbria have received high-praise in a recent national Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey.

The teams at Cumberland Infirmary, West Cumberland Hospital and Penrith hospital were commended for their high level of care

This follows on from the maternity teams recent CQC inspection rating of good - with some actions for the service to address.

The results from the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust’s (NCIC) were higher than other trusts in nine questions and equivalent to other trusts in 45.

Patients hailed NCIC for asking about their mental health, the advice given on the risks of induced labour, giving patients the opportunity to ask about their birth and treating them with empathy post-delivery.

Scoring 10/10, the Trust excelled in addressing the mental health aspect of their female patients, consequently rated as "much better" than other trusts in this regard.

They were ranked as being "better" than others when it came to staff giving women advice on the risks associated with an induced labour.

Post-delivery attention and kindness saw the trust score 8.4/10 and 9.0/10 respectively.

Amanda Kennett, associate director of midwifery at NCIC, said: "We continue to improve year on year and to see patients giving such positive feedback is fantastic.

"I would like to thank our teams who work really hard to make sure that our patients feel safe, supported and well looked after before, during and after labour.

"Following a Care Quality Commission inspection last year, our maternity services were rated good.

"While we are pleased with the results, we are not complacent and will be examining the results further to see where we can improve for the future."

Jill Foster, chief nurse at NCIC, said: "We are proud of our team for the dedication, professionalism and caring attitude that they show each day and this has been reflected in the results of the CQC’s national maternity survey."

Sent in 2023, the CQC survey was administered to all females who gave birth in February last year.

The maternity pathway, from antenatal to postnatal care, was evaluated based on the experiences of the responders.

The survey had a response rate of 48.83 percent, translating to 146 responses.