Birmingham Women’s Hospital to offer contraceptive implant to new mums after midwives receive special training
Birmingham Women’s Hospital has launched a service to offer more contraceptive choice to women staying on the postnatal and transitional care wards, after midwives expressed an interest in receiving training to offer the service.
BWC Charity’s Staff Scholarship Fund generously allowed over fifty midwives and midwifery support workers to attend a course in offering contraceptive advice and options after childbirth. Alongside the course, four midwives also received funding to gain qualifications in inserting the contraceptive implant.
The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health training was delivered by local resident doctors Amy, Rebecca and Alice in conjunction with local sexual health services, Umbrella.
Midwife, Sallyanne was one of the first to express an interest in receiving training around contraception.
Sallyanne commented: “We noticed there were a lot of mums coming back to the hospital within a really short time frame between their children, with less than a year in between some children.
“After talking to these women, a lot of them said they just didn’t have access to contraception in time.
“We did an initial training session supported by our doctors, and I liked the idea of being able to offer the implant to women on the wards by their bed and bring the service to them.
“I put in an expression of interest, which was approved, and myself and three other midwives attended two full day training sessions at Umbrella to be able to offer the service.”
There are now four trained midwives at the Women’s Hospital offering this service to all women on the postnatal and transitional wards, with midwives Sallyanne, Rebecca and Hannah and consultant midwife Kookie being trained.
The contraceptive implant is a small plastic device that’s fitted under the skin of your arm and can provide contraception for up to three years.
If fitted in the first three weeks after giving birth, the contraceptive effect starts working immediately.
Sallyanne commented: “We’ve seen women from lots of different backgrounds wanting the implant.
“A lot of them say having the implant while they’re still in hospital is ideal, because once they go home, they struggle finding the time to go to a GP with a newborn, especially if they’ve got other children or responsibilities.”
As well as fitting the implant, the specially trained midwives also offer counselling around contraception to make sure the implant is the right choice for them.
Sallyanne added: “The implant works really well for a lot of the women we talk to, as it’s all about giving them the choice and freedom.
“It doesn’t take long to fit, and once it’s in, the effects will last for three years and they can have it taken out at any point beforehand.
“They say it feels like they’re taking control over their own bodies, especially after just having a baby.”
Sallyanne added: “We’ve had so much interest in the service from patients and colleagues, and so many other midwives have said they’d be interested in participating in the training. We are really grateful to BWC charity and Umbrella for providing the training.
“We hope in the future, we’ll be able to train more midwives and expand the service even more."