GV Health has announce a range of exciting changes for its maternity services, including upgraded facilities, accommodation for partners to stay during the postnatal period, improved continuity of care and provision for future water birth and in vitro fertilisation (IVF) services.
In 2022, GV Health’s maternity team undertook a period of community consultation including a community forum, online survey and meetings with community groups.
Maternity Services Manager, Carmel Brophy, said the maternity team took the feedback they received very seriously.
“A decline in birth numbers and the redevelopment of our unit prompted our team to seek community consultation on ways to improve our service provision to our families in our region,” she said.
“We wanted to work with families to support them through their pregnancies and birth journeys, with the aim of providing continuity of care models within the core antenatal period to both low and high-risk women, collaborating with both midwives and obstetricians.”
Midwifery Group Practice (MGP) clinical coordinator, Zoe Andrus, said one of the most important pieces of information that came from that consultation was the need to allow a support person to stay overnight with mother and baby.
“It’s not just the mum that’s had the baby, it’s a family unit,” Mrs Andrus said.
“Partners are very much more involved now, it’s their child as well so they need to be involved in that initial care.”
GV Health’s maternity services team took this feedback onboard and a support person is now warmly invited to stay overnight at GV Health through the postpartum period.
The Maternity Unit, Birthing Suites and Special Care Nursery have also recently been upgraded.
In addition to single rooms for each mother, with space for a support person to stay, the refurbished Maternity Unit now also boasts a brand-new dedicated parenting and visitor area where staff can undertake support and assessments for newborns in the ambience of a relaxed, shared environment.
A new bath for water births is expected to be available for use from mid-March.
In addition to this, the models of care offered at GV Health have been changed to improve the continuity of care and patient experience.
Looking forward, GV Health’s maternity team is now in the process of developing new postnatal education services and preparing for the future provision of public IVF services.
