New birth unit in Bradford

A new midwife-led birth centre is opening at the Bradford Royal Infirmary as part of £3.6million investment in maternity and neonatal facilities.

The Bradford Birth Centre will cater for women with a low-risk pregnancy and birth, with all care provided by midwives.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has spent £1.2 million on the new Birth Centre and a full refurbishment of the adjacent consultant-led labour ward.

A new lift has also been installed which will link birthing facilities with the post-natal wards in the floors above and a new bereavement room has been created for the privacy and dignity of women.

The Foundation Trust has also spent £400,000 in taking on more staff. Thirty one new midwives and six midwife support workers have been employed to improve quality and safety.

The seven-bedded birth unit boasts two birthing pools as well as a relaxing environment where women can give birth in specially designed rooms. Ipod docking stations are attached to the walls of every room and birthing aids like birth stools, mats and balls are there to encourage women to remain upright in birth in order that labour can progress quickly.

There will also be a shared kitchen where staff, patients and their relatives can use the facilities, while a new lift has been installed which will take new mums and their babies direct to the post-natal wards, increasing privacy and dignity.

The 13-bedded consultant-led labour ward, is only the second unit in the region to sit alongside the midwife-led centre.