This is what the neonatal and midwifery unit at Prince Charles Hospital looks like after a £6m revamp.
The changes to the hospital in Merthyr Tydfil follows a decision – years in the making – to downgrade paediatric and obstetric services at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant.
As part of the changes from March 9 , doctor-led midwifery and neonatal services will no longer be available at the Royal Glamorgan.
It means babies who are premature or ill will not be delivered at the Royal Glamorgan and will instead be sent to Prince Charles, Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend or the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff.
However all midwife-led deliveries, as well as antenatal services, clinic appointments, scans and tests in pregnancy, will still be provided in the Royal Glamorgan.
Women will be able to choose whether to have their baby in either Royal Glamorgan Hospital or Prince Charles Hospital. Anyone with a complicated pregnancy or who needs doctor-led will need to deliver at Prince Charles Hospital.
As part of the upgrade, Prince Charles Hospital now has:
- The Tair Arfon Birth Centre including four birthing suites with two birthing pools. It will be led by midwives but doctors will be located in a separate unit next door
- A redeveloped labour ward including newly furbished rooms and a birthing pool.
- An expanded special care baby unit with capacity for 19 cots for premature or sick babies
Neonatal nurse Abigail Gowan, who works at Prince Charles Hospital, said: "The amalgamation of both sites means that the babies here will receive the right care at the right time for their needs.
“We’ve got larger cot spaces which means parents can get more involved in their care, family rooms so parents are able to stay when their babies are getting ready to go home, state-of-the-art breastfeeding rooms so it’s better equipped.
“We’ve got more space, different types of equipment that we might need in the unit.
“We provide the highest level of care, so with all of our doctors coming under one roof means that the best care will be given to your baby now, and we aspire to become a unit of excellence.”
An independent review into maternity services at Cwm Taf University Health Board was carried out by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Royal College of Midwifery earlier this year.
A number of immediate concerns were spotted during the review.
Following a meeting of the Welsh Government, the Wales Audit Office (WAO) and Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW), it was decided that Cwm Taf UHB should be put under a higher level of monitoring from “routine arrangements” (the lowest level which reflects “normal” business) to “enhanced monitoring”.
What are my options after March 9?
According to the health board, there are four options for births after March 9:
- At home, with community midwife wupport
- In the new free-standing midwifery-led unit in the Royal Glamorgan Hospital where you can labour and give birth with midwives as the lead professionals. There will be no doctors present at the FMU, so in the unlikely event of any complications you would need to be transferred by ambulance to a doctor-led unit.
- The new alongside midwifery-led unit known as Tair Afon Birth Centre, in Prince Charles Hospital with access to two birthing pools. Midwives will be the lead professionals. There will be no doctors in the unit but it is located alongside the doctor-led unit so transfers can be carried out if necessary
- Consultant-led obstetric unit in Prince Charles Hospital with care from midwives and doctors in the new state-of-the-art delivery unit which has newly furbished rooms and a birthing pool. The neonatal unit has also been expanded.
Cwm Taf UHB has produced a Q&A to help people understand the changes to maternity services available on their website.
