Expansion of Community Midwifery Services at Cromer Hospital
Maternity service users in North Norfolk will benefit from a new permanent Community Midwifery Clinic at Cromer and District Hospital thanks to a charitable grant of £98,000.
The Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals Charity have awarded the sum to create a dedicated space for the Walsingham Community Midwifery Team.
Currently the team sees pregnant women in several locations depending on availability. The new base at Cromer will provide a permanent base to hold clinics, with access to equipment, IT systems, and phlebotomy services.
Pam Sizer, Community Midwifery Matron, said: “Having easy access to a dedicated local clinic seven days a week will improve choice for women around their appointments, enable us to see more women in their own locality, and reduce unnecessary travel time to collect equipment and consumables from the central base in Norwich. Having our own space to use outside of routine clinic hours will enable us to further develop our midwifery provision.
“In addition, it gives us flexibility to support our vulnerable and hard-to-reach families and provide the dedicated space for us to work with our partners, such as our Tobacco Dependency Advisors, to provide additional care at appointments. It will also enable us to continue our strong working relationship with the GP surgery just across the road.”
“The change will support community midwifery staff within their everyday work. The Maternity services would like to thank the Charity on behalf of all the Walsingham team for their support.”
Director of N&N Hospitals Charity, John Paul Garside, said: “The Charity has been pleased to support the Community Midwives over a number of years and we are delighted to fund this work which will provide them with a stable base for improved services.
“We’re committed to supporting developments in North Norfolk which will benefit patients and their families. This latest grant means that the Charity has awarded more than £3m to Cromer Hospital over the last five years. Our thanks go to everyone who fundraises for our Charity, and to those who leave gifts in wills, which enable these grants to be made.”
Work has commenced and the new clinic is due to open in the Spring.