Expansion of Delivery Suite at NNUH official opening

The Delivery Suite at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) is being opened officially by Chief Executive, Anna Dugdale on Tuesday 8th October after undergoing a three month refurbishment and redesign.

The redesign of the Delivery Suite comes after then NNUH was successful in gaining £272,000 of funding from the Department of Health to improve the environment for patients. This resource was used to create en-suite facilities for all birthing rooms and increase the recovery area from one bed to two.

The redesign also means that the hospital has been able to increase the overall capacity of the Delivery Suite by adding three new delivery rooms bringing the total to 15 rooms, which will help the service to cope with the predicted increase in birth rate over the next 5 years.

NNUH Head of Midwifery Glynis Moore, said: “These improvements to the Delivery Suite will benefit our patients and boost our capacity for dealing with the increasing birth rate. We're delighted that the extra funding has enabled us to provide more en-suite facilities so that our patients will have more privacy and a better experience when they give birth.”
The birth rate has increased from 4929 births in 2003 to 6352 births in 2012.

The Midwifery-led Birthing Unit has helped to address the increasing birth rate after being opened in August 2011 with 1187 births during the first year the unit was open. The unit offers women who are healthy with a straightforward pregnancy a home-from-home environment in which to have a natural birth.