Maternity

• Every pregnant woman will be able to exercise choice as to the type of care she receives. We will take fully into account the wishes of the mother in accordance with her clinical needs and those of her baby
• All mothers will have a named Midwife at every stage of her pregnancy. The relationship between the mother and her care-givers is recognised as being fundamentally important
• All mothers will be treated as individuals and with courtesy. We will respect personal, cultural and religious beliefs and maintain confidentiality
• The services we offer are based on sound clinical, professional and managerial practices. Our services will be delivered by staff who are suitably trained and qualified
• All mothers will be kept well informed and we will work in partnership with them
• All problems will be discussed with goodwill and promptness by our staff. Our services will be monitored and any problems or concerns will be dealt with speedily.

The service offered will be to a defined standard which is regularly monitored and evaluated. This will ensure that the health services provided are consistently of the highest quality.

BadgerNet Maternity and BadgerNotes is new to our Trust. It is an electronic maternity healthcare record system which allows real-time recording of your maternity journey. It also means you will no longer need to bring your paper notes with with you to appointments, as everything will be accessible via the BadgerNotes app.

Antenatal Education

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, on-line antenatal courses and videos have been developed to support parents-to-be:

• Understanding pregnancy, labour, birth and your baby: A 9 module course for parents, grandparents and carers - https://inourplace.heiapply.com/online-learning/
• An informative 30 minute Antenatal Infant feeding session from Lancashire Infant Feeding Team - https://www.healthierlsc.co.uk/BetterBirths/Families/preparing-birth-and-parenthood

For expectant parents with a Blackpool postcode please register for the Baby Steps antenatal education programme.

Registrations are made through midwifery at point of the booking appointment or self-registration.

For more information please contact bfwh.babysteps@nhs.net or 01253 953049. Parent information for newborns - translated versions

Real Birth App

We have teamed up with The Real Birth Company to provide you with free access to birth preparation classes.

The classes are available via the Real Birth app and are accessible from the ‘recommended reading’ section in your BadgerNotes app or via a QR code that your midwife can give you.

The Real Birth Digital Programme is packed with lots of information to help you learn more about how labour starts, how you can work with your body, birthing positions and lots more antenatal topics to help you in the weeks before the birth of your baby.

Twenty-six weeks of pregnancy is a good time to start thinking about antenatal classes and what you’d like for your birth and the Real Birth App can help with that.

Download the app or speak to your midwife for more information. If you'd like to attend face-to-face sessions at the Trust, you can book from 20 weeks pregnant by emailing parenteducation@nhs.net

The department delivers approximately 3,000 babies every year

The Trust offers high levels of expertise and excellent standards of care for pregnant women and their families through antenatal, delivery and postnatal care. The Maternity department delivers a high quality, family focused service, with a seamless approach both locally and in the wider community. Based at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, the department delivers approximately 3,000 babies every year.

One of the 3,000 babies born every year at Victoria Hospital.

Our Maternity services include a fully equipped Midwifery-led unit and a separate Consultant-led labour ward.  Our Midwifery-led unit offers a home-from-home environment with the focus on normal birth. There are four birthing suites, two with birthing pools, and the atmosphere is relaxed and family centred. The unit is for low-risk mums-to-be and has the advantage of full hospital facilities just next door.

The Consultant-led unit has is a dedicated operating theatre, an antenatal/postnatal ward, several spacious delivery rooms, a family room and a water birthing pool. There is also an Early Pregnancy Foetal Assessment Unit run for women with specific pregnancy problems.

As well as hospital-based Midwives, there are also several teams of Midwives rotating between the hospital and providing community services for women across Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre.

We hope that you find this section of our website useful and informative. If you are a patient, we hope that your pregnancy, the birth of your baby and the weeks after your baby is born will be remembered by you, your family and friends as a happy event and that we can help your experiences during this time match and exceed your expectations.

The Maternity department works closely with the Neonatal Unit, which forms part of the directorate of Child Health. For more information about child health across the Trust, please click here

We'd like to remind all patients and visitors that the Trust operates a zero tolerance policy. Abuse in any form won't be tolerated (including in person, by telephone and in writing) and action will be taken against persistent offenders. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

We would like to remind all visitors and patients that the Trust and all it's grounds are smoke free. This includes all internal and external areas. For more information see our Smoke Free Policy page.