MATERNITY units in Braintree, Chelmsford and Maldon have been given an improved rating by patients, according to a survey.

Mid Essex Hospital's Trust scored 8.9/10 for the labour and birth experience, with labour and birthing staff awarded 8.8/10 in the 2019 National Maternity Survey.

The trust, which runs the Williem Julian Courtauld Birthing Unit in Braintree, was also rated as ‘Better’ than most for communication, respecting the feeding decisions of mothers, being contactable, and frequency of midwife appointments.

Overall, Mid Essex improved its scores for 23 of the 49 questions asked in the survey compared to the previous year’s results.

The trust was in line with national averages in all other areas.

Head of midwifery and gynaecology Ros Bullen-Bell said: "We have a fantastic team who do their best for all of our women.

“Our women are offered a good range of choices and when they book in we ask them what kind of antenatal care and labour they want. We make sure they’re involved in the journey from the beginning.

“We’ve introduced personalised care planning across the Mid and South Essex Hospital Group and there’s been a real focus on continuity of care.

“The feedback is very positive and I think our women really feel listened to."

Mid Essex Hospital maternity teams delivered a total of 4,300 babies in 2019.

Ms Bullen-Bell says the upturn in results have come following changes to the service and she is hopeful the 2020 survey will continue the upward trend.

She added: "We’ve introduced personalised care planning across the Mid and South Essex Hospital Group and there’s been a real focus on continuity of care.

"We’ve involved our maternity voices group and they’ve come onto the units and told us what they want from the service, and we hold meetings where women can give us feedback on their care and tell us if they’re getting enough emotional support.

"It’s a holistic approach. We’re not just looking after the physical care of our women, but also their wellbeing as people.

"I think you will see our scores improve even more as a result of the personalised care planning and our aim is to be rated as ‘Better’ in as many categories as we can."

More than 17,000 people across the UK carried out the 2019 National Maternity Survey.