Are you pregnant and received a positive Covid-19 test result?
If you are pregnant and you receive a positive test result for COVID-19, you must inform your Maternity Unit immediately:
Women booked at Birmingham Women’s Hospital:
Please contact the Maternity Covid Outreach Hotline on 07787 277751 between the hours of 8:00am – 4:00pm, Monday to Friday, to inform a member of the team of your positive result. If the call is not answered, do not leave a message - this means our midwives are all working clinically. If the hotline is not answered, please contact Maternity Triage on 0300 020 1201.
At all other times, please contact Maternity Triage on 0300 020 1201.
If you are booked to give birth at a different hospital, please contact that hospital’s Maternity Triage by the contact numbers provided to you.
What happens next?
A team of midwives from Birmingham Women’s Hospital would like to keep in regular contact with you via telephone throughout this period and monitor your symptoms and oxygen levels. The COVID Oximetry@home programme involves remote monitoring using a pulse oximeter. A pulse oximeter is a small monitor which you clip to the end of your finger to measure your oxygen saturation levels (oxygen levels in your blood).
It is important that we monitor how well your body is receiving oxygen (oxygen saturation levels) because this helps us to assess potential Covid-19 related complications and identify whether you need further review, monitoring or treatment with oxygen, which will require hospital care. Even if you have no symptoms of Covid-19 or do not feel short of breath, your oxygen levels can still be low.
You will be provided with a pulse oximeter to monitor your oxygen levels at home and a member of our team will explain the process to you, including how to use it and when to seek help. To work properly, it must be placed at the end of a finger without nail varnish/acrylic nails in place and you will be asked to write down the readings.
We will be monitoring you for at least 10 days from your positive test or for at least 48 hours after your symptoms have ceased, if you have been unwell.
Vaccination
We strongly advise that you have the COVID-19 vaccine before or during pregnancy as pregnant women are among week-on-week increases in the numbers of hospital admissions for COVID-19. COVID-19 infection in pregnancy carries a significant risk of hospital admission and a higher risk of severe illness in pregnancy, which can affect you and your baby. This is especially so in later pregnancy with an increased risk in pre-term birth and the problems this can bring for your baby.
If you have not yet accessed a Covid-19 vaccine, it is highly recommended that as a pregnant woman you do, as you are in a high-priority group. You can have the vaccine at your nearest vaccination centre or your GP practice. If you have questions about vaccination, you can discuss it with your GP, community midwife or obstetrician. You can book a vaccine online by visiting:
Please see www.birminghamandsolihullcovidvaccine.nhs.uk for details of your nearest walk-in clinic.