Incident Status: 
Maternity
The maternity services at Bedford Hospital are located in Cygnet Wing, our dedicated women and children’s unit. Our skilled and professional midwifery and obstetric team delivered more than 3200 babies last year (2010/11) and take great pride in supporting individual choice and providing the highest standard of care for women and their families.
In the last maternity survey by the Care Quality Commission (2010), women highly rated their experience at Bedford.
Take an online tour of the maternity unit
The maternity service comprises of:
- A community midwifery service; providing antenatal and postnatal care for all women that deliver in Bedford and some women who deliver out of area, as well as a home birth service.
- A Delivery Suite with seven delivery rooms, a triage room, parent’s room and obstetric theatre suite.
- A midwifery led unit called the Acorn Suite which has two ensuite rooms, with birthing pools.
- Orchard Ward (maternity) has with 20 postnatal beds (four bays with four beds, and four single rooms and an additional 4 bedded antenatal bay.
- A day assessment unit with four beds.
- An antenatal outpatients clinic with designated high risk antenatal clinics, including antenatal screening.
- The ultrasound scan rooms which are located within the antenatal clinic to provide a dedicated pregnancy scanning service run by midwives and ultrasonographers.
- A level one neonatal unit, with nine special care neonatal cots, one intensive care cot and two high dependency cots.
In 2010/11, maternity staff assisted with the delivery of 3261 babies with 166 mothers using the birthing pool facilities and 90 babies being delivered at home.
The maternity team
Here at Bedford we have a skilled and professional maternity team, made up of midwives, registered nurses, obstetricians, paediatricians, anaesthetists, operating department practitioners, supervisors of midwives, and both clinical and clerical support staff who take pride in the standard and quality of care offered to women and their partners. As a teaching hospital, we also provide training places for medical students, student midwives and student nurses.
Supporting your choice for pregnancy and birth
Our maternity team is committed to supporting personal choice based on the individual and clinical needs of women and their families. We offer women the option of where they receive their antenatal and postnatal care and where they give birth. Whether the choice is to have your baby at home, in the Acorn Suite (midwifery led unit) or in the Delivery Suite, our aim is to ensure that pregnancy, labour and birth are positive and safe experiences for you and your partner.
Please click on the links below to find out more about our facilities. Alternativley, you can take our online tour.
The Acorn Suite (midwifery led unit)
Direct access to a midwife
When a woman discovers that she is pregnant, she can contact the midwifery team directly by telephoning 01234 792073; leaving her name, telephone number and the name of her GP. Arrangements will then be made for her to meet with a midwife as soon as possible and before ten weeks of pregnancy where possible, to complete the initial booking component of comprehensive pregnancy records, discuss recommended blood tests available and be referred to the hospital's antenatal clinic ultrasound department for a pregnancy dating scan.
The initial meeting to undertake the booking history will take place either at the GP surgery or at home, at a children’s centre or at a hospital based booking clinic. Thereafter antenatal appointments with the community midwife or GP will take place at regular intervals throughout pregnancy. Should referral to a consultant obstetrician be required, the midwife or GP will refer the woman for an obstetric opinion at the hospital.
For women with an existing medical condition or previous obstetric complications, care will be delivered jointly by the maternity team, which includes community and hospital based midwives and hospital based doctors and consultants. A joint obstetric clinic is held with the diabetic specialist team for women who have pre-existing diabetes or who have pregnancy onset diabetes. midwives also hold clinics specifically for women booked for a vaginal birth after caesarean section.
Additional support
Our Midwifery Parent Education Team (MPET) has been developed in order to provide women and their partners with high quality, evidenced based education in relation to pregnancy, birth and parenthood. Sessions are held at many locations within the geographical area of Bedford Hospital, at convenient times to women and their partners. In addition to standard antenatal sessions, MPET also offer sessions specific to women only, young parents to be, weekend workshops and dietary support advice in collaboration with hospital dieticians.
Women who have used this service have found it very positive, with the majority of women rating the service as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’. If you would like to book classes, please telephone 01234 792073, or e mail the team at mpet@bedfordhospital.nhs.uk
Whatever type of maternity care is chosen, community midwives, obstetric consultants, hospital midwives will be available for support. We offer free referrals to smoking cessation services and support women who want to reach a healthier weight during pregnancy by working with colleagues in dietetics and the community for physical activity guidance.
Listening service
Bereavement service
Infant feeding
What women and their partners say about us…
“Fantastic antenatal classes, very informative and we felt well prepared”.-extract from maternity feedback form, November 2011
“I had a very positive experience; all staff were very kind and friendly and gave loads of useful information for a first time mum like myself.” -extract from maternity feedback form, September 2011
“I no longer live in Bedfordshire, but I was so impressed with the maternity care I received during previous pregnancies, I decided to return to Bedford Hospital to have my third child. As always, staff communication was excellent, I was consistently kept informed and I felt extremely comfortable in the hands of such caring and professional staff.”-a new mothert from Northamptonshire
“Cygnet Wing facilities and staff were fantastic. They made the birth of our first baby an amazing experience, as much as we could have possibly hoped for.”-extract from maternity feedback from, August, 2011
