The Maternity Service aims to provide excellent care in a friendly and nurturing environment to give mothers, babies and their families' personalised care from the early antenatal period, during pregnancy and labour and during the first early days of parenting.
You can talk to the Maternity Team about the various options available to you to help you choose the right personalised care package for your pregnancy, together with a delivery plan that suits you and your family.
The Maternity Team
- Midwives, Obstetricians, Maternity Support Workers [MSW], Sonographers, Paediatricians and Anaesthetists make up the Maternity Team. All skilled professionals are either based in the hospital or community to provide you and your families with the personalised care that you need throughout your experience.
- Midwives will be your first point of contact if you develop any complications during your pregnancy.
- Maternity Support Workers assist the Midwives in all aspects of care, including:
- Accompanying women to other clinical departments under the direction of a Midwife
- Home visits
- Providing breastfeeding support
- In addition, they will assist you whenever needed
- The Community Midwifery Team are assigned to parishes for home visits, run antenatal clinics and also co-ordinate the Great Expectations parent craft classes along with Bosom Buddies breast feeding support group. They also provide postnatal once discharged from hospital. The Community Midwives can be contacted on 01481 224682.
- Obstetric Consultants will lead or work in collaboration with the lead Midwife if you develop complications during your pregnancy. You can find out more about our Obstetric Consultants here.
Labour Wards and Suites
- Lavender Suite
- The Lavender Suite is situated on Loveridge ward and can be used as long as you remain low risk during your pregnancy and go into natural labour between 37 and 42 weeks.
- The suite consists of a spacious relaxing area with a bean bag, bradbury cushion and birthing pool all of which encourage mobilisation and normality in labour.
- The use of the Lavender Suite can be discussed with your Midwife at 36 weeks if this is your preferred option.
- Delivery Suite/ Labour Ward
- Our Labour Suite is typically for those women with complications who may require Obstetric and Midwifery care during labour and birth. Occasionally, if the Lavender Suite is in use, the Labour Suite can also be used for those women whose care is Midwifery led.
- The Labour Suite is an appropriate choice for Obstetric led and Midwifery led care. Maternity care in the labour suite is provided by a team of healthcare professionals, including Midwives, Obstetricians, Anaesthetists, Paediatricians and Support Workers. All members of the team will ensure the focus is on respecting your individual preferences
- Delivery Suite facilities:
- Three birthing rooms: Ocean, Woodland and Blossom. Ocean is our secondary water birth room which can be used if the Lavender Suite is unavailable.
- The Cove: is a big bath which can be used by women in early labour
- Listed below are a number of reasons it may be more appropriate for you to give birth in our labour suite:
- Have medical or obstetric complications in your present pregnancy
- Have had complications in a previous pregnancy or birth
- Go into labour before 37 weeks
- Require Induction of Labour (IOL)
- Need a Caesarean Section for medical or obstetric reasons
- Choose to have your baby on the Labour Ward
- Would like an epidural
Visiting Hours and Contact - Loveridge Ward
- The entrance to the ward is monitored by CCTV and is securely locked at all times. Parents/birthing partners are welcome to visit any time during the day, however, the only children allowed to visit are siblings of the baby, and our rationale for this is to reduce the risk of infection.
- Visiting times to the Unit are:
- 15.30 to 16.30
- 18.30 to 19.30
- We do not have facilities for friends to stay on the unit however, we are now very fortunate to be able to offer overnight accommodation for birthing partners if requested.
- If you have any questions you can contact the ward on 01481 224377.
More information on your pregnancy, giving birth and support can be found here.
