Maternity Care Survey 2025: national report
Findings on women's experiences of antenatal care, labour and birth, care in hospital or a midwife-led unit, care in a neonatal unit, care at home / in the community and feeding their baby.
Care in a neonatal unit after birth
A neonatal unit provides specialist care for newborn babies who are premature, unwell, or have a low birth weight.
- 12% of women had babies who had neonatal care
- 93% of those women rated the care they received in the unit as “excellent” or “good.” This is similar to 95% of women in 2018.
Of those women whose babies received care in a neonatal unit, 88% attended the unit closest to their home. The rest were admitted to a unit further from their home either before (4%) or after (8%) the birth of their baby.
Stays in a neonatal unit
Of the women whose babies received neonatal care:
- 67% felt they had enough privacy in the neonatal unit
- 84% felt they were able to stay with their baby in the neonatal unit as much as they wanted
- 76% had skin to skin contact with their baby in the neonatal unit as much as they wanted; this was not possible for the remainder for medical or other reasons (15% and 9% respectively)
- 90% felt staff on the neonatal unit supported them to build a relationship with their baby.
Person-centred care
All person-centred behaviours experienced during care in a neonatal unit were rated positively by at least 85% of women.
Figure 10: Staff support received the highest rating (95%), while involvement in decisions about their baby's care received the lowest (85%).
Percentage of women who agreed or strongly agreed with statements related to care received in a neonatal unit, 2025, weighted percentages.
Ratings were the same or similar for each of the five statements also asked in 2018.