Pregnant women in Southampton are in safe hands, as the city’s maternity services have been rated highly by patients.

As part of the country’s first Friends and Family Test for maternity services, 94 per cent of those treated at the Princess Anne Hospital said that they were “extremely likely” or “likely” to recommended the services they used.

Of the 139 women questioned on the quality of antenatal treatment over the three-month period, 70 per cent said they were “extremely likely” to recommend staff and facilities to family and friends and 26 per cent “likely”.

Almost three-quarters of 135 patients who submitted feedback on the labour ward at the Princess Anne Hospital and the birthing unit at the New Forest Birth Centre were “extremely likely” to recommend.

Maria Dore, head of midwifery at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are all really pleased about some of the excellent feedback we’ve received.”