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.
Key points
Overall care
Most women rated their care as “excellent” or “good”, and this has remained stable for all stages of care between 2018 and 2025, except for a slight decrease for labour and birth:
- Antenatal care, care in a neonatal unit and care at home / in the community after the birth were rated most positively (90%, 93% and 90% respectively rated their care as “excellent” or “good”), similar to 2018
- Care during labour and / or birth was rated positively by 88% of the respondents, a decrease from 91% in 2018
- Ratings were lowest for care in hospital or a midwife-led unit, rated positively by 80% of the respondents, similar to 2018.
Person-centred care
Across the maternity journey, most aspects of person-centred care were rated positively by at least 85% of women:
- Across all stages of care, women reported high levels of kindness and understanding from health professionals, with positive ratings ranging from 88% to 96%
- Aspects of care that were less positive included getting to know the person during antenatal care (78% positive) and coordination of care in hospital or a midwife-led unit after the birth (80% positive).
Continuity of care
Three quarters of women experienced continuity of carer at the antenatal stage of their maternity journey, but they were less likely to at the labour and birth, and postnatal stages:
- Of the women that saw a midwife at their planned antenatal check-ups, 77% saw the same one at every or most check-ups, an increase from 63% in 2018
- During labour and birth, 28% of women were cared for by the same midwife or midwife team as during their pregnancy. The majority of those that were not, did not mind
- The percentage of women who saw the same midwife for their antenatal and postnatal care all or some of the time has increased from 46% in 2018 to 59% in 2025.
Neonatal care and services
Around one in eight women had a baby who received care 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.