WARRINGTON Hospital’s maternity team is welcoming all women whose care has been discontinued by One to One Midwifery.

The award-winning maternity service is located at the Croft Wing and women and their babies are supported throughout their pregnancy, birth and post-natal experience by a highly-skilled team of consultants, obstetricians and midwives.

Women are supported to give birth in hospital either in a co-located midwife-led unit or the obstetric labour ward or at home.

At the end of the year, the hospital will open a £1 million midwife-led birth centre with new and improved facilities for women who choose to give birth in a midwife-led setting.

The hospital would like to assure all women booked with One to One who wish to transfer to us that they will be booked with the midwifery team and the best possible care provided for them and their babies.

No woman will be turned away, and the hospital has made urgent staffing arrangements to cope with the unexpected demand.

Women should contact the hospital as follows:

• Any woman that is in labour please telephone the labour ward now on 01925 662334

• If you are 36 weeks pregnant or more, or have been told that you need an urgent appointment or scan; call now on the helpline 01925 662323

• If you have given birth and are still receiving postnatal care in the community please contact the helpline on 01925 662323 to enable postnatal care to continue from WHH midwives.

• If you are 37 or more weeks pregnant and had planned a home birth call now on 01925 662323 to discuss your place of birth

If you are less than 36 weeks pregnant and your pregnancy is progressing normally, and you don’t have any appointments booked in the next two weeks, you can transfer your care easily to the hospital online at

www.whh.nhs.uk/services/maternity/pregnant-self-refer-us-filling-out-online-form-here

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After which you will receive a call from one of the midwives.

Commissioners are working with One to One to transfer women as seamlessly and safely as possible, including locating and transferring your medical notes. If this is not possible, you may be asked to undergo some fresh blood tests and scans to ensure your care is as up to date as possible – this is completely normal and nothing to worry about.

Mel Pickup, chief executive said: “We were notified that independent midwifery provider, One to One Midwifery, had given notice to go into administration, ceasing the care of women already booked with their company.

"We made immediate plans to accept the transfer of circa 500 Warrington and Runcorn women to our maternity service and are working with commissioners to ensure that this transfer of care goes as smoothly as possible.

"Our maternity service was awarded the Royal College of Midwives Maternity Service of the Year in 2017 and the service has gone from strength to strength since then, with the recent CQC inspection giving maternity a good rating across all lines of enquiry.

"The Trust board earlier this year approved a £1m investment to create a new birth centre in Croft Wing which we expect to complete by the end of the year, offering women even more choice through a stand-alone midwife-led service in state-of-the-art, purpose built unit.”