THEY are the skilled and dedicated teams responsible for helping thousands of mums welcome new babies into the world.

Now maternity staff in Hampshire are starting the New Year with celebrations after being hailed among the country’s top performers in a national health survey.

Staff at Southampton’s Princess Anne Hospital and the New Forest Birth Centre hit the top three in a national survey asking mums to rate the quality of maternity services in their area.

Results of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) annual maternity survey comes after midwives at the units run by University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust helped deliver little bundles of joy over Christmas and the New Year.

The trust was scored third out of the country’s 64 hospital trusts in a survey completed by 20,631 women nationally.

Mums gave feedback on their labour and birth, how staff interacted and communicated with then and their care on wards after birth.

Mothers using both centres scored the units 9/10 for involvement in decisions during labour and birth and 9.5/10 in respect and dignity.

They also gave the centres 9.3/10 for skin to skin contact with their baby shortly after birth, 9.5/10 for partner involvement, 9.1/10 for confidence and trust in the staff caring for them during labour and birth, 9.2/10 for staff response time during labour and 9.5/10 for clear communication.

More women also said they were offered a choice of giving birth in a midwife led unit or birth centre and felt they received sufficient information or explanations in hospital and after their child’s birth.

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The trust provides maternity care and a choice of birthing options – including home births – for over 6,000 women a year.

Princess Anne is also a regional centre for foetal and maternal medicine, providing specialist care for women with medical problems during pregnancy and for those needing extra care before or around birth.

Maria Dore, head of midwifery at UHS, said she is “delighted” with the results and added: “We are delighted with the results of this survey, which show we are continuing to improve the experience and quality of care women receive in our services.

“The maternity environment can be a very intense and highly-pressurised place to be, so it is extremely rewarding for all of our staff – not just midwives – to see patients reporting really positively about us.”

Staff there welcomed 12 babies on Christmas Day and at least three on New Years’ Day – including little Edith Annabelle Nelson who was the first to be born in Hampshire in 2016 to Southampton couple Abi and Nicholas.

Women can also give feedback to the unit online and via a mobile phone app commenting on ultrasound, feeding support and telephone contact during early labour.