The National Maternity Experience Survey 2020 invited women to share their experiences of Ireland’s maternity services. The survey is part of the National Care Experience Programme — a joint initiative by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health. The survey reflected a commitment made in The National Maternity Strategy 2016-2026 to evaluate maternity care services from the perspectives of the women who use them.6,357 women who gave birth in October and November 2019 were invited to participate, with 3,204 responding. The survey questionnaire contained 68 questions which capture the whole maternity pathway from antenatal care, through labour and birth, to postnatal care in the community. The aim of the survey was to learn from the experiences of women to improve the safety and quality of the care that they and their babies received. HIQA, the HSE and the Department of Health committed to acting on the findings of the National Maternity Experience Survey to improve the quality of maternity care services in Ireland.

Probability: Cluster. Women aged 16 or over who had a live birth in October or November 2019 and had a postal address in the Republic of Ireland were invited to participate in the National Maternity Experience Survey. Eligible participants were informed of the survey upon discharge from hospital. All eligible new mothers were contacted by post in February and March 2020. They were provided with information on the survey and a link to the online questionnaire. In March and April, two reminder letters were sent to the women who were invited to participate but had not yet returned a survey. The second reminder contained a paper copy of the questionnaire and a return envelope. Women could opt out at any point from discharge through to survey close.

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper