Labour suite (Consultant unit)

On the Labour Suite there is access to closer monitoring for you and your baby during your labour and the birth, should you need it.

There is a large Labour Suite at each of the hospital campuses, where you can be cared for by a team of Midwives and Doctors,

 

Obstetric doctors

A team of obstetric doctors are present 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. There is a consultant present within the unit until 10pm most days, and sometimes overnight. When there is no resident consultant, a tier 3 doctor (link) will be present in the unit, with an obstetric consultant on-call to give advice and come in if needed.

 

Anaesthetic doctors

A consultant Anaesthetist who specialises in pregnancy and birth is on call 24 hours a day. If you are planning an epidural for pain relief, then the labour suite is the recommended place of birth for you

Your midwife or obstetric consultant may recommend birth on the labour suite, and they will explain the reasons to you.

 

What if I want to move around?

The rooms are designed to accommodate individual needs, and equipment is brought in as it is required. Midwives encourage women to be as mobile as possible in their labours, even if this is restricted due to clinical need. Being upright, active and mobile is beneficial to both you and your baby - it can help your labour to be shorter, you are less likely to need pain relief and help avoid medical interventions.

Telemetry monitoring is a method of continually listening to your baby’s heartrate but without the restriction of being attached to the monitor. This makes it easier to use different positions and aids such as beanbags, mats. Telemetry monitoring is also waterproof so it can be used in the birthing pool on the labour suite. In addition to the pools in the sanctuary birth Centre there are two pools on the labour suite at QMC and one pool at City.