We provide maternity services for residents in Central Norfolk and have seen an increase in the birth rate of an average 12 % in the last ten years (some years experiencing 22% year on year increases).
We are situated on Level 3 of the West Block.
If you would like to have your baby with us please complete the online self-referral form.
Our Maternity department is a shared midwife and consultant service which comprises the following areas:
Located within the hospital close to the delivery suite, we have our midwifery led birthing unit, which has four birthing rooms (three pools). The midwives are trained to care for women requesting waterbirth and many women choose to either labour in water or give birth in water. Women who have an uncomplicated medical and pregnancy/birth history and meet MLBU criteria for admission are able to give birth in the MLBU. Should complications arise during labour, the delivery suite is close by to enable medical input for ongoing care.
The refurbished delivery suite has 15 birthing rooms (one pool) and provides a pleasant environment in which to be cared for. It is situated adjacent to the Neonatal Unit. There are two dedicated obstetric theatres with 24 hour obstetric/anaesthetic cover including epidural cover.
There are 14 antenatal inpatient beds (Cley Ward) if you are required to remain in hospital before you have your baby. You would usually come to Cley Ward for induction of labour. There are 32 postnatal inpatient beds (Blakeney Ward) where many women stay after having their baby as they require ongoing care either for themselves or their baby. This is usually a short stay of about 2 days, longer in certain circumstances.
When you are ready to go home your care transfers to your community midwifery team and they will visit you the day after you get home and plan ongoing care.
The Birth Reflections Service is a confidential service run by midwives which gives you the support and opportunity to discuss and understand what happened during the birth of your baby. One-to-one sessions currently run on a Saturday. For an appointment please call us on 01603 287334.
Norwich Maternity Voices Partnership
Our Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) is an NHS working group, a mix of individuals who use or provide maternity services. This can include service users, birth workers, doulas, service commissioners and service providers such as midwives and doctors. These people work in partnership to review and develop local maternity care. The Norwich MVP is linked to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) and the group is led by service user chair and vice chair Jenny Whatling and Jude Applin.
Our Maternity Services podcast
You can listen to podcast about our maternity services with Midwife Vicky Mash which gives more information.
You can also follow our Maternity department on Facebook and Instagram.
Maternity Friends and Family Test
The Friends and Family Test is now available at four key points of the Trust’s maternity services offering patients the opportunity to give feedback. Maternity patients have the opportunity to give their views on antenatal care, birthing care and postnatal care, so might be asked the question up to three or four times so we can make sure that we identify areas for improvement at every stage of maternity care. The question will be slightly different depending on the particular service a patient has just used. The question looks like this:
How likely are you to recommend our ‘maternity service’ to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?
Choices range from “Extremely likely” and “Likely”, through to “Neither”, “Unlikely”, “Extremely Unlikely” and “Don’t Know”.
We also encourage patients to provide us with more information so that we can understand why a particular answer was chosen, what we did well and where we can look to make improvements. Maternity patients will be asked to give their feedback as follows:
- 36 week antenatal appointment in community
- Delivery Suite or Midwifery Led Birthing Unit or Home Birth Service
- Postnatal care on Blakeney Ward
- Postnatal community service at discharge from care
Feedback on antenatal care can be given by Freepost postcard (distributed by midwives) or online or by downloading the maternity app.
Any patient who has their baby in the Delivery Suite, Midwifery Led Birthing Unit (MLBU) or Home Birth Service, but does not stay on Blakeney Ward (the postnatal ward), can give their feedback by going online or by downloading the maternity app and will be provided with these details at discharge from hospital or at home (for home births).
Patients who give birth in the Delivery Suite or MLBU, and then stay on Blakeney Ward will be offered an opportunity to give feedback on their birthing experience and on the postnatal care on Blakeney Ward by taking part in a short survey with a volunteer who visits the ward and inputs feedback onto an iPad.
