Reposting this from the men on ward thread, as I thought it was a really interesting discussion.
If you were planning a new maternity unit and pre-and postnatal wards what, within some reason and how the NHS works, would it be like?
I'd like a prenatal ward that wasn't just beds, but was more relaxing and had sofas and chairs for women who don't need continuous monitoring.
A midwife and consultant led birth unit that was together, so you can chose and transfer between them if you want to - so if you do decide after two days you want an epidural, you can transfer to the CLU quite easily. (Our new maternity unit is like this and it was great, I think it gives confidence to women who might want to start out in an MLU and aim for a natural birth but are worried they aren't close enough to more medical support if they do need it, which would have been me if our unit wasn't mixed).
Enough rooms that women can stay in the room where they gave birth that first night, with their partner if they want. This is also working on the assumption that a lot of women only need to stay that first night, and so a transfer to a busy ward isn't ideal.
I think a postnatal ward is probably still needed as women who need ongoing medical care presumably need to be in a ward setting, as the NHS isn't like a private hospital with enough staff to monitor everyone in a private room. But the bays need to be bigger, so you've got room to actually fit the incubator/cot in it and still move! Comfy chairs for partners as well.
Possibly some of the 4-bed sidewards are for men to stay as well, and some aren't, so catering for choice of whether you mind other men being around as well or not. But here I'm working on another assumption, that women who have to stay in for 3-5 nights might not want their partner with them every night.
More midwife/maternity staff on hand to help with the baby if you're immobile, maybe get you a cup of tea if you're feeding at night.
More lactacion advisors on hand, day and night.
More accessible kitchen areas for preparing bottles, rather than being stuck miles away from the beds (bloody nightmare in the middle of the night!)
And really importantly, more provision for women who don't have their baby with them and when it really isn't very nice to put them on a side-ward with mums with their babies.
Anyone else?
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Childbirth
What would you ideal maternity unit be like?
34 replies
Thurlow · 07/03/2014 12:09
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