Refer yourself to our maternity service at Colchester Hospital

You can self-refer to the Colchester Hospital maternity service – you do not have to go via your GP.

The information you send to us will be treated in confidence and in order to provide appropriate care for you and your baby we may need to share information with the wider care team. We will take your email as an agreement to share your information.

How to self refer to Colchester Hospital maternity service

To self refer, email the Colchester maternity team.

Please include all the following information You can copy and paste the text below into your email. We need all this information in order to accept your referral.

Your doctor’s details:

• The name of the doctor you are registered with
• The name of the surgery where you are registered

Your details:

• Your title
• Your full name (First name and Surname)
• Your previous Surname (If you had one)
• Your date of birth (in format dd/mm/yyyy)
• Your NHS Number (If known)
• Your Hospital Number (If known)
• Your address
• Your postcode
• Your contact number
• Your email address
• Your preferred method of contact (e.g. email, phone)
• Your first language (if not English)
• Your ethnicity
• If you require an interpreter (interpreter required, no interpreter)
• If you have lived in the UK for the past year

Medical and obstetric (maternity) history:

• What was the first day of your last period (in format dd/mm/yyyy)(approximate date if not sure)
• The number of previous pregnancies you have had (if none please state ‘no previous pregnancies’
• If you have had a miscarriage before (if none please state ‘no miscarriages’
• If you have had any terminations (abortions) before (if none please state ‘no terminations’
• Any other medical conditions you have
• If you are a smoker (e.g. smoker, non-smoker)
• If you have any previous pregnancy history (for example caesarian section, Pre-eclampsia)

Next of Kin details:

• Name of next of kin (First name and Surname)
• Next of kin date of birth (in format dd/mm/yyyy)
• Next of kin address
• Next of kin postcode
• Next of kin contact number
• Next of kin Relationship to you (e.g. partner, mother)

Our response

You will receive an email response from us as soon as possible – please check your junk folder for this if it does not come to your inbox.

Please do not resubmit the referral form, if you have not had an email response from us. We process referrals as quickly as we can, but when high numbers are received, it takes slightly longer than usual. Do not worry, this will not affect your care.

If you need urgent assistance, please contact us on 01206 742 369. Thank you for your patience.

Any information you send to the maternity team will be from an unsecure server, however any reply you receive from the team will be sent via a secure server. How we protect your information at ESNEFT.

If you have Diabetes

If you have diabetes, please also refer yourself to the North East Essex Diabetes Service (NEEDS). Either telephone 0345 241 3313 option 2 or email NEEDS.

Other conditions

• Are you and/or the baby’s other parent carriers of sickle cell, thalassaemia or another haemoglobin variant?
• Are you already known to have HIV, Hepatitis B or Syphilis?
• Have you had a baby previously who was born with a chromosomal or genetic condition such as Down’s, Edward’s, Patau’s Syndrome, duchenne’s syndrome, cystic fibrosis? (this list is not exhaustive)

If so, please also email the Colchester Hospital Antenatal and Newborn Screening Team with your name, contact details and details of the above conditions.