A NATIONAL watchdog has ranked maternity services at York Hospital in the top half of the country.

The Healthcare Commission report said the Wigginton Road site was one of the "better performing" hospitals in the country - although there was still room for improvement.

The rating is based on 25 performance indicators, ranging from the type of scans women receive, to staffing levels and the number of times a woman has contact with a midwife after going home.

Hospital trusts across England were placed into one of four categories, with 21 per cent ranked as "least well performing", 22 per cent as "fair performing", 31 per cent as better performing' and 26 per cent as best performing'.

Head of midwifery services at York Hospital Margaret Jackson said: "We are very pleased with the outcome, but we know there are things we need to look at and we will be having a full discussion about the report to put together an action plan for how we can do better.

"We want our users to be constantly involved in that process.

"Staff try very hard to make it a postive experience for patients, but we don't always get it right and we need to learn from our mistakes."

The hospital scored full marks in two areas - how readily women were able to access maternity care and provision for additional needs.

However, the report also identified a number of weaker areas, including the homeliness of delivery rooms, where York Hospital scored just two out of five, and the quality of support in caring for the baby after discharge, which also scored two.

Mrs Jackson said: "We acknowledge that we have an issue arround the homeliness of delivery rooms and we are looking at a refurbishment programme.

"One of the things we would like to be able to offer is ensuite facilities."

The report was compiled from hospital data and the results of a survey completed by women using the maternity services.

The three main themes were clinical effectiveness, the maternity experience of women and the efficiency and capability of staff.

Mrs Jackson said: "Ensuring that patients are treated with dignity throughout their care is one thing we have to work on.

"Staff say they don't always have the time they wanted to spend with patients and we are doing a review into staffing issues."