'Little progress' made in improving Jersey's maternity care

The review said "significant work" was needed to improve maternity services

Efforts to improve Jersey's "inadequate and highly unacceptable" maternity facilities have made "little progress", a review has found.

The report from the Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel looked at the state of care for pregnant and new mothers in Jersey.

It said it was "extremely concerned" by the duration of a planned two-year upgrade to the hospital facilities.

It also criticised the level of mental health support offered to parents.

"Numerous reviews" in the past had already highlighted the shortcomings of Jersey's maternity ward, the report stated.

"It has been recognised by the majority of service-users and maternity staff that the current maternity facilities within the General Hospital are inadequate and highly unacceptable," it read.

Plans to upgrade the ward over a phased two-year period, while remaining fully operational, would lead to "unnecessary disruption for women, their babies and for staff seeking to provide high quality care", the report said.

It found a number of midwives and women who use maternity services had not been asked about the plans.

Some maternity staff said when they were consulted, their thoughts and opinions "had not been taken on board".

The panel urged the Minister for Health and Social Services to employ an independent estates expert to assess all options for the upgrade work, and to ensure maternity staff were involved in the ward's design.

'Unsupported or coerced'

The panel made a total of 48 findings and 28 recommendations based on information provided by the public, as well as an independent review and answers given by the Minister for Health and Social Services during a public hearing.

Among them was an "inconsistency" in how women were cared for within maternity services.

The panel said they had found "compassion is not always at the centre of the culture surrounding the service", with some women reporting they felt "unsupported with their choices or coerced into agreeing to the type of care received".

It said while it recognised steps were being made to improve mental health support, "significant work" remained.

Recommendations made by the panel included creating an independent senior advocate role within maternity services to ensure women's voices were heard, appointing a specialist breastfeeding support midwife, and developing a better leadership team which should include a Director of Midwifery.

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