Congratulations on your pregnancy. Finding out you’re pregnant is so exciting but this can also be quickly overshadowed with lots of uncertainty and questions. In the early stages of pregnancy there are so many decisions to make and time is of the essence. A decision all expectant families will make is …

Which hospital is right for me and my baby?

As a Midwife by the time you finally get to your booking appointment this decision is generally already made. How is this decision made? Most people contact their GP’s first in order to get transferred to maternity care/ maternity unit but this is no longer essential. Did you know you could actually save valuable time by booking directly with your desired maternity unit? This is called a self referral. At the time of writing this blog the target for women to be booked into the maternity system is by 9-10 weeks. This is so valuable screening (Nuchal Scan) can be done before the 13+6 cut off point.

I have outlined in my infographic blog different factors to look into when picking where to birth your baby.

Pregnancy can be a stressful experience but Precious Delivery are here to help make your pregnancy journey as smooth as possible.

1. Location– The  number 1 factor when picking which maternity unit to book your pregnancy with. This is because pregnancy and labour is unpredictable and so it is very important that you can easily access care. If your are booking a home birth this will usually only be possible within your local unit as each hospital usually has a ‘patch’ in which they work in- so the further away the hospital from your house, the less likely it will be that they can come out to facilitate a homebirth.
2. Feedback– Family and Friends only want the best for you hence why they should also be a point of call. They may have recent experience with some of the maternity units you are deciding on, so can sometimes be helpful.
3. NHS Website– NHS UK has a great website which helps you compare multiple maternity units at once. Enter your postcode and a list of local maternity units and birthing centres will come up. They are assessed on various ‘care during labour factors’ such as involvement in decisions, skin to skin at birth etc.
4. CQC Report– The Care Quality Commission are a health and social care regulatory body. The routinely assess to all hospitals to ensure they are meeting strict standards. These standards are Safe, Effective, Well-Led, Caring and Effective. Once an inspection has taken place all hospitals are ranked as Outstanding, Good, Needs Improvement, Inadequate or No Rating. Each hospital will have a report which is open to the public to read. This will give you an in depth picture of how the hospitals you are considering are performing.
5. MVP– Maternity Voice Partnership are an inclusive group which work with new mums to establish areas for improvement for the local maternity unit. These meetings are also held in conjunction with staff members from the maternity unit so that all improvement ideas are discussed and where possible implemented. Having an MVP is great for mums -to-be and new mums a-like as they are able to have a voice about the care they received (positive and negative).

If you need antenatal advice throughout your pregnancy please feel free to book a private consultation. My aim is to make your pregnancy journey as smooth possible and provide evidenced based information in order for you to make informed decisions about your care.

I hope you found this article useful.