The many mums who responded indicated they had positive experiences at the hospitals when they went to give birth, and both Ipswich and Colchester recorded significant improvements on the previous survey in 2015.

Mums who give birth at Ipswich and Colchester hospitals are singing the Trust’s praises, according to new data.

A national survey run by independent regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC), published on January 30, showed that women at both hospitals were having a positive experience of maternity care.

Ipswich scored better than other trusts across the country against three criteria, and both hospitals scored extremely highly for partners being involved as much as they wanted – with Colchester recording a maximum 10 of out 10, and Ipswich just behind on 9.9.

Neither hospital recorded any scores which were “worse” than other trusts, and both recorded significant improvements on the previous CQC survey in 2015 – in 14 of 19 areas.

Alison Littler, head of midwifery at Ipswich Hospital, said: “We are very pleased with the results of this survey, which show we are performing well in a number of key areas, including communicating clearly with the women in our care and treating them with dignity and respect.

“We are delighted that the changes we introduced after working with Healthwatch Suffolk following the 2015 survey are having such a positive impact. One great example of this has been welcoming partners to stay overnight following their baby’s birth, which not only helps reduce any anxiety for mums but also gives partners the chance to bond with their newborn.

“We will now look at areas where further action could be taken, such as increasing the opportunities for women to move position during labour, so that we can continue to improve on these positive results in the next CQC survey.”

Jenny Collins, head of midwifery at Colchester Hospital, said: “We want every woman who chooses to give birth at Colchester to have the best possible experience. As such, we are delighted that these results show some significant improvements since 2015.

“We’re especially pleased that we were given top marks for involving partners as much as they would like, as well as high scores for treating women with dignity and respect and making sure mums and their babies have skin to skin contact shortly after birth.

“We are now looking at the survey results in more detail to see what action we can take to improve still further for the benefit of everyone using our maternity services.”

The survey was sent to every woman who gave birth at the hospitals last February, with 126 replies received for Ipswich and 96 for Colchester.