Kernow Maternity Voices Partnership publishes report on Royal Cornwall Hospital maternity services

Healthwatch Cornwall are pleased to bring you the first in a series of reports by Kernow Maternity Voices Partnership (KMVP). MPV’s are independent NHS working groups that exist to support the implementation of Better Births across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
This first report focuses on Royal Cornwall Hospital and uses the 15 steps for maternity quality improvement toolkit. The 15 steps toolkit is a quality improvement toolkit designed by NHS England to improve services from the perspective of the service users. Following recommendations from the Better Births Report in 2016, this method of quality improvement is critical to ensuring co-production by involving service users and lay people to improve services.
KMVP conducted the research and interviews on location in January 2020 in small groups speaking to women and birthing people, spending around 20 minutes in different areas observing the quality of environment from a service user perspective.
KMVP have made 17 recommendations in areas that explore the facility ensuring that its welcoming and informative, safe and clean, friendly and personal and organised and calm. The full details of the findings and recommendations for improvements can be found by downloading the full report using the link at the end of this article.