Maternity Triage

 

In April 2022, our triage service became a stand alone service to only provide urgent care in pregnancy and we aim to see people within 15 minutes of arriving for an intial review and assessment. The most common reason for attending triage is feeling your baby move less often than what is normal for you (reduced fetal movements.)

Our triage service uses the Birmingham Symptom- specific Obstetric Triage System (BSOTS). This is a nationally recognised tool for triaging and has been implemented in 55 Trusts within England. It uses a colour coded system to immediately assess people who have the most urgent need. You may therefore find that someone who comes in after you, is seen before you.  

How BSOTs works:

If you are allocated an ORANGE category, we aim to see you within 15 minutes

If you are allocated a YELLOW category, we aim to see you within 1 hour

If you are allocated an GREEN category, we aim to see you within 4 HOURS

Since opening this separate service over 90% of the people who use this service are seen in triage within 15 minutes.

If you are unsure whether you should attend triage, please phone our new maternity advice line for advice.  If you are looking for non-urgent pregnancy related advice, please speak to your community midwife, midwife or GP.  

 

Maternity Advice Line

If you have any concerns during your pregnancy or after baby arrives you can now talk to our friendly midwives on 0115 9709777.

Save this number in your phone now!

Our team of midwives will be here to talk to you and direct you to the support you need 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

 

Day Assessment Unit

In response to patient feedback, Nottingham University Hospital Trust opened a separate Day Assessment Unit (DAU) at both City and QMC hospitals in April 2022.   

The DAU is for people who have or need a planned appointment for additional maternity care as part of their pregnancy (non-urgent care).  It will focus on maternal and fetal surveillance and non-urgent reviews of care.  Additional care may be required if you have a condition that needs closer monitoring, for example pregnancy induced high blood pressure. Additional monitoring of the baby may be needed if there are issues with growth. 

Our day assessement unit is a Monday to Friday clinic and you will be referrred to this clinic by your midwife, community team, consultant or GP for low risk pregnancies that generally require additional surveillance.