Delivery Suite
Our consultant-led unit is well equipped to provide care to you if you are booked for care with a consultant obstetrician. Our dedicated multi-professional team are available 24 hours a day on site to ensure that you and your baby remain healthy during your labour and birth.
We have eleven birthing rooms which are fully equipped and include access to one birthing pool and four enhanced maternal care rooms which we use to provide care to women who have significant medical concerns.
If you are preparing for a vaginal birth, your midwife will use their knowledge and skills to support you, encouraging upright positions where possible so you can achieve a positive birth experience. All rooms have access to birthing aids, such as birthing balls, to encourage an active labour. On the Delivery Suite, pharmacological options such as and gas and air (Entonox), pethidine and epidurals are available to maximise your comfort if required.
We’d recommend our consultant-led unit if:
- You have had a previous caesarean birth
- You have any bleeding that develops during labour
- You have raised/high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia (raised blood pressure and protein in your urine)
- You have diabetes
- You have obstetric cholestasis
- You are anaemic (iron level is less than 100g/dl)
- Your baby has been identified as being small or growth restricted
- Your baby is not head down when labour starts (breech)
- Your placenta is not in the normal place for birth
- You have concerns about your baby’s movements (two episodes of decreased fetal movements in a one-month period after 28 weeks of pregnancy or one episode of reduced fetal movements within 24 hours of your labour starting)
- You are less than 37 weeks or more than 42 weeks into your pregnancy
- You are having a multiple pregnancy (twins or triplets)
Your midwife will listen to your birthing preferences, being mindful of the intention to provide safe, personalised care.