Over 60,000 babies are born in Ireland every year — that’s 60,000 women with unique stories to tell about their care during pregnancy, childbirth and life with a newborn baby. This survey wants to capture these experiences to find out what Ireland’s mums have to say about our maternity services.
What’s this all about?
The National Maternity Experience Survey is the first ever national survey asking women about their experiences of maternity care in Ireland — both good and bad. The valuable feedback from new mums will help the HSE, Health Information and Quality Authority and the Department of Health to improve maternity services and make them safer and better for all new mums and their babies.
Can I take part?
If you are over 16 and had a baby in Ireland in October 2019 (or November in smaller maternity units or at home), you may be eligible to take part in the survey.
What kind of questions are in the survey?
The survey asks you about the maternity care you received while you were pregnant, during labour and birth, and after your baby was born. There are 68 multiple-choice questions in the survey, asking you about:
- your involvement in decisions that affected you,
- the type of information and support you received,
- your confidence and trust in hospital staff, and
- respect and dignity.
How can I take part?
Up to 7,000 eligible new mums will be contacted by post in February and March 2020 and will receive a unique code to access the online survey. The survey remains open until Thursday, 30 April.
When will I find out the results of the survey?
The full results of the survey will be published in September 2020 on www.yourexperience.ie. You can sign up on the website to be notified when the results are out.
Where can I find out more?
Find out more on www.yourexperience.ie, or find us on Twitter @CareExperience , Instagram @CareExperience or Facebook YourMaternityExperience .
The National Maternity Experience Survey is part of the National Care Experience Programme, a joint initiative by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), the HSE and the Department of Health. The Programme also includes the annual National Inpatient Experience Survey.
