Women's satisfaction with antenatal care in a changing maternity service

1) to provide a descriptive analysis of women's views of the antenatal care provided in the study centre; 2) to identify which aspects of antenatal care were important to women; 3) to assess whether or not women 'booked' for delivery at the study centre would welcome the formal introduction of a midwifery-led service and 4) to audit sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction identified in the survey.

descriptive survey using a self-administered questionnaire, and a self-administered audit questionnaire using a modified Measure of Satisfaction.

the antenatal clinic of one teaching hospital in the north of England between July 1993 and August 1993. The audit was conducted between December 1994 and February 1995.

110 women attending four 'follow up' antenatal clinics participated in the survey and 151 women participated in the audit.

many women felt they were already having midwifery-led care and that it was important to them to see a doctor during pregnancy. Generally the women were satisfied with antenatal care. Factors which caused dissatisfaction were, lack of continuity of care, quality of advice, waiting time and these were the focus of the audit.

local needs should be assessed before implementing changes in service. Elements of good practice should be identified to ensure that they are not compromised in a changing service. Further evaluation of the changing maternity service is needed to monitor satisfaction and dissatisfaction.