First look at East Lancashire's new birthing centre suites (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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First look at East Lancashire's new birthing centre suites
11:08am Thursday 18th March 2010 in
-
- By Peter Magill » Chief reporter
A NEW generation of ‘home-from-home’ birthing centres are set to be opened for 2010’s crop of expectant mums in East Lancashire.
The former Woodlea mental health unit in Park Lee Road, Blackburn, will be the first to come on line, as part of a programme designed to offer stress-free pregnancies for the region’s mothers-to-be.
Around £900,000 has been spent converting the former pyschiatric ward, closed in March 2007, into a ‘birthing centre’ complete with four hotel-style rooms and access to private gardens.
Three birthing pools will be on hand, for those opting for natural births, and a post-natal suite has been created nearby.
The new £32million Lancashire Women and Newborn Centre, based within the Phase V development at Burnley General Hospital, will also feature a birthing complex, when it opens in October.
And later a third such centre is set to be opened at the new Rossendale Primary Health Centre, Bacup Road, Rawtenstall.
Health chiefs said that with a high proportion of pregnancies occurring without complications, most women could choose between having their babies at home, with a fully-qualified midwife on hand, or at their nearest birthing centre.
Babies requiring more specialist care, from across East Lancashire, will be cared for at the Burnley maternity unit.
Sheena Byrom, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust’s midwifery head, said: "For women who have uncomplicated pregnancies, research shows that a comfortable, non-medical environment, with women going through labour naturally and at their own pace, is best for mum and baby, both during and after birth.
"Women can choose to have theirs babies at home or at birthing centres, where women’s care will be tailored to their own unique needs – going through labour in the positions they find most comfortable, in a home-like environment.
“Women who have had babies in existing birthing centres elsewhere in the UK say that they feel more relaxed and in control of their birth, allowing more pain-soothing hormones to be released and reducing the need for pain relief and other medical interventions.”
Mothers-to-be will be encouraged to discuss which method - home, birthing centre or hospital - will be suitable for their pregnancy and a DVD package has been produced to assist in their choice.
Comments(17)
cutthebull
says...
4:21pm Thu 18 Mar 10
Davidoff
says...
5:22pm Thu 18 Mar 10
'2010's crop' Crop is apt here. Definition: have a baby, get straight into available social housing, jump the queue, then have assorted babies by different fathers, get pregnant again ... then fail to look after them as they grow up, let them roam the streets, simply because they have a child as a means to an end: get a house or flat quickly.
Time it was stamped on. Having children today in certain areas of the country is not because people want to start a family. Hence the child gets treated like a discarded accessory because they just had them to get what they want. Family? Hah! Half of the kids have different fathers, the other half will end up living 'estranged' most likely from their fathers once the mother has got herself into a council place by jumping the line and the father has ceased to have any further purpose.
Deny it all you like, and I've no doubt those who have done this will pathetically attempt to justify or deny they are. Thing is, we've heard and seen it all before.
There is more money probably thrown at this kind of thing within the NHS at the cost of other more vital services. Only saw today that the NHS is cutting beds. Again. But they've got plenty for new mothers, sorry, I meant 'breeders' in society it seems. Makes you wonder if the NHS is responsible because it seems they want to encourage not discourage people from having babies irresponsibly, without any compulsion to actually parenting them. Means to an end. Wake up NHS.
Let's just stop putting the carrot in front of these people with these nice suites. Because they come straight out of school, straight into getting pregnant, straight into a nice new place to live. All because they had a baby or six.
kate11
says...
10:04pm Thu 18 Mar 10
Birthing units such as at Rossendale were closed many years ago because as you say they were dangerous. A normal delivery can soon become a matter of life or death for that babe! What happens when the ambulances are backed up at A and E or are in the East of the county in nelson Colne or Barnoldswick. Time will be lost and that babe could die in the birthing unit at Blackburn or suffer trauma. Also the managers are looking to staff the birthing units with a midwife and a health care assistant, not two midwives... again totally unsafe especially at Blackburn birthing unit. A few years ago a report was issued saying that birthing units would double the risk of a baby dying. The Department of Health told them to alter the wording to MAY double the risk. What a cover up.. Home delivery would be better!!Many midwives have left over the last two years with many more wanting to leave or retire before the move to Burnley!! Let us stop this now!!
LWebber
says...
10:41pm Thu 18 Mar 10
katy121
says...
11:08pm Thu 18 Mar 10
Let's just stop putting the carrot in front of these people with these nice suites. yeah people have babies just 2 give birth in nice suites honest not everybody who have babies are teenagers who want a council house
pocketdragon
says...
11:21pm Thu 18 Mar 10
davidoff - i think someone upset you, even i didnt rant as much as you did. bit unfair and unjust in your comments i think. give your head a wobble.
popsy
says...
11:26pm Thu 18 Mar 10
cutthebull
says...
8:00am Fri 19 Mar 10
kate11 wrote:It really bothers me that the public either don't know or don't care! Or that this is is an issue that needs highlighting & the LET hasn't splashed it across it's pages stating this, asall the facts are there infront of them!!!! I didn't know the staffing levels were so poor though. There was an issue a few yrs ago with one midwife jumping between rooms of women delivering & one lady delivered while the midwife was out of the room delivering the other lady & that baby died, & that was in the hospital. What's a HCA gonna do????? I wouldn't wanna be that midwife in that birthing centre & I'd quit rather than do it, at least they have a chance at keeping their registration! I've heard paramedics gave said they'll just take the mums to A&E coz it's nearer, but there not geared up for sections etc! I'm soo afraid for it when it happens.
"Cutthebull" you are obviously in the know as I am and you are totally correct. There will be incidents!!
Birthing units such as at Rossendale were closed many years ago because as you say they were dangerous. A normal delivery can soon become a matter of life or death for that babe! What happens when the ambulances are backed up at A and E or are in the East of the county in nelson Colne or Barnoldswick. Time will be lost and that babe could die in the birthing unit at Blackburn or suffer trauma. Also the managers are looking to staff the birthing units with a midwife and a health care assistant, not two midwives... again totally unsafe especially at Blackburn birthing unit. A few years ago a report was issued saying that birthing units would double the risk of a baby dying. The Department of Health told them to alter the wording to MAY double the risk. What a cover up.. Home delivery would be better!!Many midwives have left over the last two years with many more wanting to leave or retire before the move to Burnley!! Let us stop this now!!
Davidoff, what are you going on about, you claim to be intelligent then look at the bigger picture discussed above & hope that none of your relatives & friends are ever put in this potential risky situation by this trusts cash cutting exercise!
kate11
says...
2:48pm Fri 19 Mar 10
Would anyone like to comment!! So why are we still opening them!! If attached to the unit like the one in Burnley General all will befine but if you are in the Blackburn one or the Rossendale one can we be given assurances that an ambulance will arrive quickly to take the mum to Burnley!! Or will they be backed up at A&E in Blackburn or chasing down the motorway from the East of the county taking someone to A&E!!!
Comments from staff and paramedics would be good!!
"Birth centres run by midwives are to be given a health warning after an NHS watchdog found that babies have more chance of dying there than those delivered in hospital.
The Government's National Institute for Clinical Excellence has raised concerns over the safety of NHS birthing centres, which are used by more than 20,000 women a year who want to avoid "medicalised" labour.
Pregnant women will be told that labour in a birth centre could carry a greater risk for their baby because if complications arise they may face delays of 45 minutes or more to get to a hospital.
A delay in getting an emergency Caesarean, ventouse or forceps delivery puts a baby at greater risk of suffocation in the womb.
No anaesthetists, paediatricians or obstetricians are present at birth centres. NICE experts said research shows a "slightly increased" risk of infant death during or shortly after labour in birth centres compared with women who give birth in hospital.
The death rate in hospitals is 0.7 per cent of babies. Officials have declined to reveal the exact figure for birth centres before the guidance is published next year.
Around 100 birth centres are run by the NHS, many in rural areas where the nearest hospital is up to 20 miles away. Some are situated in the grounds of local hospitals, with midwives in charge.
A NICE spokesman said: "The deaths may be due to various factors, but anything about an increased risk of this nature must be looked into. Women must be fully informed. The outcome that everyone wants is a healthy mother and a healthy baby. Women must have all the options and information about labour before them."
Some specialists fear that women may have unrealistic aspirations about birth centres, believing them to be a "halfway" house between the security of a hospital and the comfort of a home birth, but failing to realise that if anything goes wrong there are no doctors on hand.
The head of midwifery at one leading NHS teaching hospital, said: "It concerns me that women book into a birth centre wrongly believing it is a 'halfway house'. If they need an epidural or a Caesarean we are then getting in to ambulance transfers. In some cases it can take 45 minutes or more.
"There have been tragedies and it is only afterwards that the mothers say, 'I wish I had known'."
Although most of the 600,000 babies born each year in Britain come into the world in hospital, there is a growing shift towards birth centres, backed by the Government's plans for maternity care."
kate11
says...
2:48pm Fri 19 Mar 10
Would anyone like to comment!! So why are we still opening them!! If attached to the unit like the one in Burnley General all will befine but if you are in the Blackburn one or the Rossendale one can we be given assurances that an ambulance will arrive quickly to take the mum to Burnley!! Or will they be backed up at A&E in Blackburn or chasing down the motorway from the East of the county taking someone to A&E!!!
Comments from staff and paramedics would be good!!
"Birth centres run by midwives are to be given a health warning after an NHS watchdog found that babies have more chance of dying there than those delivered in hospital.
The Government's National Institute for Clinical Excellence has raised concerns over the safety of NHS birthing centres, which are used by more than 20,000 women a year who want to avoid "medicalised" labour.
Pregnant women will be told that labour in a birth centre could carry a greater risk for their baby because if complications arise they may face delays of 45 minutes or more to get to a hospital.
A delay in getting an emergency Caesarean, ventouse or forceps delivery puts a baby at greater risk of suffocation in the womb.
No anaesthetists, paediatricians or obstetricians are present at birth centres. NICE experts said research shows a "slightly increased" risk of infant death during or shortly after labour in birth centres compared with women who give birth in hospital.
The death rate in hospitals is 0.7 per cent of babies. Officials have declined to reveal the exact figure for birth centres before the guidance is published next year.
Around 100 birth centres are run by the NHS, many in rural areas where the nearest hospital is up to 20 miles away. Some are situated in the grounds of local hospitals, with midwives in charge.
A NICE spokesman said: "The deaths may be due to various factors, but anything about an increased risk of this nature must be looked into. Women must be fully informed. The outcome that everyone wants is a healthy mother and a healthy baby. Women must have all the options and information about labour before them."
Some specialists fear that women may have unrealistic aspirations about birth centres, believing them to be a "halfway" house between the security of a hospital and the comfort of a home birth, but failing to realise that if anything goes wrong there are no doctors on hand.
The head of midwifery at one leading NHS teaching hospital, said: "It concerns me that women book into a birth centre wrongly believing it is a 'halfway house'. If they need an epidural or a Caesarean we are then getting in to ambulance transfers. In some cases it can take 45 minutes or more.
"There have been tragedies and it is only afterwards that the mothers say, 'I wish I had known'."
Although most of the 600,000 babies born each year in Britain come into the world in hospital, there is a growing shift towards birth centres, backed by the Government's plans for maternity care."
cutthebull
says...
9:27pm Fri 19 Mar 10
I like how the birthing centre offers natural, close to home birth but fail to mention the best pain relief will be a bit of gas & air ( if ur lucky) and a nice gym ball to bounce on! Enjoy!!!
I really hope the LET shows this for what it is, a money saving scam risking pregnant mothers lives!
Black Clio Guy.
says...
10:42pm Fri 19 Mar 10
katy121 wrote:Thats right only about 95% people are young single mums. A least the NHS are offering a nice surounding and getting them ready before they get there council houses.
what do u mean davidoff with this comment Wake up NHS. Let's just stop putting the carrot in front of these people with these nice suites. yeah people have babies just 2 give birth in nice suites honest not everybody who have babies are teenagers who want a council house
big aunt sally
says...
10:54pm Fri 19 Mar 10
bankhall
says...
1:50pm Sat 20 Mar 10
pdb951
says...
9:01pm Sat 20 Mar 10
katy121
says...
9:57pm Mon 22 Mar 10
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past.times01 says...
12:43pm Thu 18 Mar 10