Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust gets new Midwife Led Unit
|
Women who give birth at East Surrey Hospital are benefiting from a new
Midwife Led Unit, which offers a home-from-home birthing experience
within the safety of a hospital environment.
The unit is the newest of its kind in the South East Coast region and is part of a modernisation process which is improving and developing maternity services at East Surrey Hospital. The new facilities include four delivery rooms, one with a birthing pool as well as a transitional care baby unit.
Managed by a team of experienced midwives with maternity support workers and healthcare assistants, the unit provides a low tech birth experience for women with uncomplicated labours. It offers a relaxed comfortable environment that encourages natural births with as little intervention as possible but specialist doctors are on hand in the nearby consultant-led delivery suites if required. The facility uses birthing balls, bean bags and a birthing pool to help during labour and features NCT* recommended birthing mattresses rather than regular hospital style beds.
Sue Chapman, Head of Maternity Services, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said: "Local women can make choices about their care and are encouraged to have a natural birth without intervention. If women do need medical assistance, they can quickly be transferred to the delivery suite in the hospital's maternity unit, where they will continue to receive midwifery care and also benefit from consultant and obstetrician care."
Tara Unwin, from Earlswood in Surrey, the first mother to deliver her baby in the new birthing pool at East Surrey Hospital said: "Having our son William in the birthing pool was a wonderful experience because it was such a natural and calm environment. The midwives were very caring and supportive and we are so happy to have been able to do it naturally."
Lucy O’Pray, from Horsham who recently gave birth to her fourth child at the Hospital said: “The new low risk birthing area is lovely and very peaceful and it didn’t feel like I was in hospital. I was relaxed during labour and I put this down to the personal attention I received from the midwives and the calm environment in the new unit. It was also such a relief to have obstetrician led care nearby when needed. The aftercare I received was also great and the staff were very caring and friendly.”
Last year over 4,000 babies were delivered at East Surrey Hospital and recent investments and upgrades to maternity services mean that the hospital can now accommodate up to 5,000 deliveries a year. A number of improvements have been made to enhance the experience of women giving birth, including two extra delivery rooms and additional maternity inpatient beds.
The Trust has also developed a successful maternity triage service that means pregnant women have better access to valuable advice and support, allowing midwives in the delivery suite to focus on providing dedicated support to women in established labour. From October, this service will operate 24 hours a day.
|
