Maternity services

The Maternity Team at Epsom and St Helier Hospitals NHS Trust are absolutely committed to providing high quality safe care to our mothers and babies. In the light of the current COVID-19 situation and the national lockdown to attempt to control the new highly contagious variant of the virus, it is with deep regret that we have taken the decision to make some immediate changes to the way in which we are providing services to women and their families:

Homebirth Service:

We have taken the difficult decision to suspend our homebirth service temporarily. To help you understand how we have reached this decision, we considered the following:

• The ambulance services are under significant pressure, and a timely response to calls for transfer of mothers and babies to our maternity units in an emergency cannot be guaranteed. Whilst we appreciate that emergency transfers are rare, it is vital to ensure that we are able to provide such services in order that the safest possible care can be provided.

• Our midwifery staff numbers continue to be impacted by staff who are themselves unwell or self-isolating, along with the unprecedented clinical demands on the NHS as a whole. As a result, we may not be able to guarantee that a midwife will be available to attend you at home.

We fully understand that this will be disappointing for those who were planning a home birth in the near future. To ensure we maintain continuity of care, the homebirth team will continue to support women booked for a homebirth and plan to care for women in labour, where possible, by accompanying them to the birth centres at either St Helier or Epsom Hospital.

Attendance of partners at ultrasound scans:

We have also taken the difficult decision to suspend partners attending all ultrasound scans. In reaching this decision, we considered the following:

• Each hospital is different in terms of the size and ventilation in scan rooms. The majority of our scan rooms are small and some do not have windows. This means we are not able to maintain social distancing with three people present and are not able to adequately ventilate the room to mitigate the risk of contagion to both staff and women and partners attending scans.

• The numbers of staff undertaking scans (sonographers, midwives and consultants) continue to be impacted by staff who are themselves unwell or self-isolating. We are committed to ensuring women are still able to access our vital scanning services as and when they are needed, and by taking this decision we are ensuring that we can reduce the risk of infection and continue to provide a full and safe service.

Visiting on the unit:

Labour and Birth:

Women can continue to be supported throughout labour and immediately following birth by one nominated birth partner who must not have any Covid symptoms.

Postnatal and antenatal ward:

It is with regret that we cannot currently support any visiting on the postnatal and antenatal ward, including partners We have made this decision as the majority of our beds are in  four or six bedded bays and it is therefore not possible to maintain adequate social distancing to enable us to keep mothers, babies, visitors and staff safe.

General:

We will be implementing this pause with immediate effect in light of the extremely high Covid prevalence in London, and will review all decisions on a very regular basis taking into account all factors including:

• National restrictions and guidance
• Emergency response capacity, London ambulance service (LAS) and South East Coast Ambulance service (SECAmb)
• Staffing levels
• Local Covid prevalence rates

We would encourage you to discuss any concerns with your named midwife in the first instance or our 24/7 dedicated maternity advice line on 0300 123 5473.

Our Maternity Voices Partnership are also here to support you during this difficult time and can be contacted by email at epsommaternityvoices@gmail.com

 

Kathryn Hughes, Divisional Director for Women and Children’s Services

• Hazel Gleed, Deputy General Manager for Women and Children’s Services
• Mr Ramesh Ganapathy, Clinical Director for Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Mr Haider Jan, Clinical Lead for Gynaecology
• Marion Louki, Director of Midwifery and Gynaecology Nursing (cross site)
• Miss Antoinette Johnson, Clinical Lead for Obstetrics
• Mr Mike Katesmark – Gynaecology Oncology Lead (Epsom)
• Mr Manish Maheshwari – Gynaecology Oncology Lead (St Helier)
• Dr Arun Kundu – Clinical Director for Paediatrics
• Dr Salim Yasin – Clinical Lead for Paediatrics (St Helier Hospital/QMHC)
• Dr Tim Marr/Dr Stephanie Kirk – Clinical Lead for Paediatrics (joint role, Epsom)
• Dr Aileen Alston – Quality Lead, Paediatrics (Trust-wide)
• Nadine Mitchell – Head of Nursing (Paediatrics and Neonatal)
• Louise Proffitt – Deputy Heald of Nursing for Neonates, Children and Young People
• Yasmin Ashrafi – Women’s health Service Manager
• Angie Molineaux – Assistant Service Manager for Women’s health
• Julia Sinclair – Paediatrics Service Manager
• Linda Mccallum – Assistant Serivce Manager for Paediatrics
• Wendy Millar, Quality Manager for Gynaecology
• Mary Shewell, Quality Manager for Paediatrics
• Margaret Mansfield – Lead Nurse for Safeguarding Children
• Carol Erzen, Directorate Co-ordinator
• Catherine Malins, Patient Experience - Paediatrics
• Mary Willocks, Inpatient and Antenatal Services - Epsom
• Margaret Flynn, Gynae Matron
• Louise Emmett, Consultant Midwife for Normality – Epsom based
• Julia Lidderdale, Consutant Midwife Public Health (cross site)
• Laura Rowe, Lead Midwife for Clinical Governance and Risk
• Emilie Lacquement, Lead Midwife for Inpatient Services (St Helier) (currently on maternity leave)
  • Covering for maternity leave (until summer 2019) - Suzanne Powroznyk
• Diane Weir, Maternity Transformation Lead
• Patience Ohikhena, Lead Midwife for Antenatal (St Helier) and Community (cross site) 
• Nicola Shepherd, Deputy Head of Midwifery (cross site, Epsom based)
• Michelle Knight, Lead for Normality (St Helier based)
• Sue Taylor, Infant Feeding Lead
• Infant Feeding Team (07975 232374 or email esth.infantfeedingteam2@nhs.net)
• Elizabeth Cullen, Named Midwife for Safeguarding
• Community Teams (Epsom): 
  Reception: 01372 736566
  Epsom and Ewell:  01372 6406/6410
  Banstead and Cobham: 01372 5140/6721
• Community Teams (St Helier) 020 8296 2990
• Home Birth Team:
  Maria Mill Shaw Home Birth Lead Midwife 07975 232101
  Pippa Davies 07828 224703 
  Nina Johnson 07975 232106
  Jill Pidler 07975 232102
  Visit our Home Birth Team Facebook page.

We also offer a number of complementary therapies at our Trust for our maternity patients. Please see the following leaflet for more information: Complementary therapies - information leaflet[pdf] 293KB

 

Below are a list of local and national support groups and other resources which may be of use to pregnant women and new families.

• Public Health England Screening tests for you and your baby [pdf] 4MB - explains the screening tests offered during and after pregnancy
• ARC (Antenatal Results and Choices) (opens in a new window) - a national charity helping parents and healthcare professionals through antenatal screening and its consequences
• DadPad - Dadpad is the essential guide for new dads, developed with the NHS. Download the app to your smartphone to get started!
• Down Syndrome Association (opens in a new window) - a national charity which aims is to help people with Down’s syndrome live full and rewarding lives.
  • Down Syndrome Association Looking forward to your baby leaflet [pdf] 2MB
• Positive about Down Syndrome (opens in a new window) - a website for parents and parents to be about Down syndrome
• Get on Downs (opens in a new window) - a parent lead support group in the London Borough of Sutton and surrounding areas. The support group meets weekly for coffee, chat and cake. Children of all ages are welcome to play with stimulating toys, in the sensory room or outdoors (weather permitting). They offer support and advice for new families, arrange useful speakers for informal discussions, social events, pamper sessions and spa days.
  • Get on Downs leaflet [pdf] 1MB
• SOFT (opens in a new window) - a support group for Trisomy 13 (Patau’s syndrome) and 18 (Edwards’ syndrome): 
• Shine (opens in a new window) - specialist advice and support for spina bifida and hydrocephalus
• Miscarriage Association (opens in a new window) - information about pregnancy loss and support
• Tamba (opens in a new window) - Twins and Multiple Births Association.