Pregnant women are able to choose to have their baby at ESNEFT’s Midwife Led Units once again.
The service was temporarily suspended in April to keep both our staff and patients safe during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) has re-established this service at Colchester (Juno Suite) and Ipswich (Brook Birthing Centre) hospitals and Clacton Birthing Unit today, 8 June.
ESNEFT’s Director of Midwifery Anna Shasha said: “We’re committed to offering women the choice about where to have their babies and providing them with the option of a midwife led birth, when appropriate. This is important to us.
“We have staff and safety measures in place and are confident we can resume this service and choice for women using our service.
“As part of our ongoing commitment to keep everyone safe we will continue to constantly monitor our services and we will keep this service under review as the pandemic continues. If we need to make any changes in the future we will let people know immediately.”
Our midwives will be making sure they let women know the service is up and running again.
The trust’s midwifery teams will also continue to assess every woman’s suitability for a midwifery led birth at the time of booking and as their pregnancy progresses to maintain their safety and that of their unborn child.
Anna added: “It is still absolutely safe to come into hospital at this time if you are booked to have your baby in one of our maternity units at Ipswich or Colchester, but existing restrictions around postnatal appointments and visiting do still apply.”
More information about postnatal appointments and visiting can be found here.
Support at hand from Maternity helpline teams
Midwives are available to answer pregnancy related questions or concerns through ESNEFT’s Maternity helpline.
For Colchester Hospital call 07843 502953 between 8.30am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-6pm Monday to Friday. The line is monitored until 4pm at weekends and on bank holidays.
For Ipswich Hospital, call 01473 702666 between 8am to 8pm seven days a week.
Please note these are not emergency or labour numbers.
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