Developing core patient-reported outcomes in maternity: PRO-Maternity.

Abstract

Women-centred maternity PRO measures can generate outcome measures that will allow benchmarking of service delivery using meaningful outcomes that will drive service improvement to ensure commitment to a culture of openness, patient satisfaction, patient safety and the delivery of clinically effective care. Moreover, they can generate new insights into women’s perspectives of healthcare delivery, allowing changes in attitude, practice and organisational services. Once developed, the adoption of PRO measures within units is likely to come at additional cost. However, the expected benefits in improved woman and family satisfaction, reduced legal claims and the presence of an early indicator of compromised quality of care will have the potential to save a significant amount of money for individual units and the wider health economy.