Published on: 5 August 2020
The Midwifery-Led Birthing Centre at South Tyneside District Hospital is celebrating an amazing first year during which it has helped bring around 220 babies into the world and has received an incredible 100% satisfaction rate from mums.
The official opening of the centre on August 5th 2019 marked an expansion of choice on where to give birth for local mums-to-be and was a crucial link in the creation of a combined maternity service for South Tyneside and Sunderland. In the past 12 months, midwives at South Tyneside District Hospital and Sunderland Royal Hospital have delivered 3,740 babies.
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust’s Head of Midwifery, Sheila Ford, said: “It has been a fantastic year for our new, combined service. All of the staff deserve credit for the way in which they have adapted to new working arrangements, whilst continuing to provide local women with the very best maternity care.”
Fifty per cent of the deliveries at the Midwifery-Led Birthing Centre in the first year were in the birthing pool, with women choosing a water birth as a way of relaxing and reducing pain in labour. Only 9% of all those who have given birth required pain relief other than gas and air. Excellent ante-natal care and care during labour resulted in less than 10% of the new mums having to be transferred to an obstetric unit, compared to the national average of 20%.
Given the overwhelmingly positive feedback so far, it is anticipated that the number of births at the centre will double in the coming months as word spreads that it is a safe place to come for a natural birth.
The centre’s team of experienced midwives provide one-to-one midwifery support during labour. There are en-suite birthing rooms, including one with a birthing pool, and partners are able to stay overnight. The relaxed, homely environment has been warmly welcomed.
Joining the birthday celebrations at the centre will be tiny Lyle Cresswell, who became the 200th baby to be born there when he arrived on June 16th, weighing 7lb 1oz. His proud parents, Claire Cresswell, 31, and Lee Cresswell, 33, from Town End Farm, Sunderland, are full of praise for the care they received.
Claire, who is also mum to Corey, aged nine, was supported at Lyle’s birth by experienced midwife, Liz Di-Duca. She said: “The whole experience was brilliant. It was so relaxed and we were made to feel so welcome. I felt like I was in a hotel. It was particularly nice that my husband was able to be very involved.
“My midwife, Liz, was supportive and encouraging throughout and kept me calm. I don’t think I could have done it without her. The care after the birth was also unbelievable.”
The Cresswells were previously presented with a letter from South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust’s Chief Executive Ken Bremner congratulating them on the birth of their son, along with a commemorative, hand-blown glass bauble as a keepsake of the centre’s milestone 200th birth.
Ken will be at the birthing centre to personally congratulate staff on the first anniversary. He said: “The Midwifery-Led Birthing Centre is a wonderful addition to our Trust’s maternity provision and, following its extremely successful first year, I look forward to watching it go from strength to strength.
“The midwives are dedicated to supporting women to achieve a safe and natural labour and birth and the positive feedback they have received from families shows how much their care and dedication are valued.”
He thanked the Trust’s midwives at both South Tyneside District Hospital and Sunderland Royal Hospital for their commitment during the pandemic to ensuring that mothers and babies continue to receive a safe, positive birthing experience, despite the extremely challenging circumstances under which they have been working.
Midwife Jacqui Ramshaw, manager of the Midwifery-Led Birthing Centre, said the first anniversary of its opening was a very proud day for the staff.
She added: “The past 12 months have been very exciting as we have developed our new service. It has been our privilege to provide women having a straightforward, low risk pregnancy with safe, midwife-led care in surroundings where they can feel more relaxed and better able to cope with labour.”
For more information on what the Midwifery-Led Birthing Centre offers, call 0191 4041033, or to speak to one of the midwives at Sunderland call 0191 569 9777.
