COVID-19 update
Maternity services
This information was updated and is correct as of 13
September 2021
Due to coronavirus (COVID-19) we have introduced restrictions
guided by NHS England to maintain the safety of all mothers and
babies, this includes being able to ensure we can maintain social
distancing in our waiting areas, appointment and delivery rooms.
Please see the details below.
We understand this is a difficult time for expectant mothers and
families. We will continue to keep this guidance under careful
review, in line with the national advice from the Chief Midwifery
Officer for England to ensure everyone's safety. If you have any
questions please speak to your midwife.
Thank you for your understanding during this challenging
time.
On this page you can find information about:
- Guidance around face masks
- Scans at St Michael's Hospital and Ashcombe Birth Centre
(Weston)
- Labour and birth at St Michael's Hospital
- Labour and birth at Ashcombe Birth Centre (Weston)
- Home births
- Appointments at St Michael's Hospital
- Appointments at Ashcombe Birth Centre (Weston)
- Visiting for maternity patients at St Michael's Hospital
- Alternative COVID-19 vaccination
- NHS volunteer responders scheme
- Maternity Services app
- Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP)
Guidance on face masks at our healthcare services
continues
Everyone accessing or visiting our healthcare services must
continue to wear a face mask and follow social distancing rules
from 19 July 2021.
The
national guidance for healthcare settings remains
unchanged. This means anyone coming into hospital
before and after 19 July 2021 must continue to:
- Clean your hands before entering and leaving the building and
use the hand sanitiser outside each ward, department or area.
- Wear a surgical face mask (unless exempt from doing so) which
are available at all hospital entrances. Guidance around exemptions
is available on the
Government website. Please notify us on attendance if you are
exempt from wearing a face mask. The Trust will endeavour to make
reasonable adjustments, if appropriate.
- Give others space. Continue to follow the maximum room and lift
capacity advice.
These measures are important so that the most vulnerable people
can continue to safely attend hospital, and to help protect our
staff and patients by reducing the risk of infection.
Thank you for helping us keep our patients, staff and community
safe.
Scans at St Michael's Hospital and Ashcombe Birth Centre
(Weston):
You will be able to attend all scans with one non-symptomatic
adult from the same household or support bubble (ideally the birth
partner) but you must follow the instructions below.
For appointments at our day assessment units at St Michael's
Hospital and Ashcombe Birth Centre, please continue to attend these
on your own to allow for social distancing.
Please do not attend an appointment with any children.
If you are an accompanying partner coming to St Michael's you
must wait outside of the hospital until you are called in (this is
to ensure adequate social distancing in the waiting areas).
In Ashcombe Birth Centre in Weston General you can come into
Ashcombe and wait with your partner in the waiting area on the
unit.
- You and your partner will both need to wear a surgical face
mask (with the exception of those who are exempt) in our hospitals
at all times. These are available as you enter the building.
Guidance around face mask exemptions is available on the
Government website. Please notify us on attendance if you are
exempt from wearing a face mask. The Trust will endeavour to make
reasonable adjustments for you, if appropriate.
- You must also use the hand gel at all entrances and exits.
- You must not visit in any circumstances if you have a new
continuous cough, high temperature or have a loss/change in your
normal sense of smell or taste. For more information and
guidance on coronavirus, please visit www.nhs.uk/coronavirus.
- To provide safe and personalised maternity care and to enable
support people's attendance at maternity appointments, a lateral
flow antigen test is suggested. Women and their support partners
are able to order tests online to self administer at
home via the national portal. Pregnant women and their support
people are advised to undertake testing twice weekly during
pregnancy and test within 24 hours before an appointment. For
more information or if you have any questions, please visit
the Lateral flow antigen test for pregnant women and
support people FAQs.
If you believe that you have additional needs that need to be
taken into account please contact the Matron by calling switchboard
on 0117 923 0000. Further details about scan appointments can
be found on the
FAQs page.
Labour and birth at St Michael's Hospital
- Two nominated non-symptomatic birthing partners who have tested
negative for COVID-19 are allowed to be with you during labour and
the birth. Your non-symptomatic partners/supporters will need to
undertake a lateral flow test which will be provided and
administered on arrival. These tests require a swab from the
nose and it takes 30 minutes to provide a result. If the lateral
flow test result comes back negative, the partners/supporters will
be allowed to accompany you during labour and birth including
induction, elective caesarean section and spontaneous
labour. If you give birth on the midwife led unit or
central delivery suite and you and your baby are able to go home
within 2-3 hours after giving birth, your partners/supporters will
be able to stay with you until you and your baby leave.
- If your baby needs to be admitted to the neonatal intensive
care unit (NICU), non-symptomatic parents can visit. Both parents
can visit at the same time in each of our NICU areas (ICU rooms,
the HDU and SCBU rooms).
If you have any questions or additional needs that need to be
taken into account please speak to the Matron or your community
midwife who will be happy to discuss this with you.
Labour and birth at Ashcombe Birth Centre (Weston)
- Two nominated non-symptomatic birthing partners who have tested
negative for COVID-19 are allowed to be with you during labour and
the birth. Your non-symptomatic partners/supporters will need to
undertake a lateral flow test which will be provided and
administered on arrival. These tests require a swab from the nose
and it takes 30 minutes to provide a result. If the lateral flow
test result comes back negative, the partners/supporters will be
allowed to accompany you during labour and birth. If you and your
baby are able to go home within 2-3 hours after giving birth, your
partners/supporters will be able to stay with you until you and
your baby leave.
If you have any questions or additional needs that need to be
taken into account please speak to the Matron or your community
midwife who will be happy to discuss this with you.
Home births
Our home births service is still available where appropriate.
Please speak to your midwife to discuss your options.
Appointments at St Michael's Hospital
You can be accompanied by one non-symptomatic person (ideally
the birth partner) for all scans and consultant antenatal
appointments (except in our day assessment units in St
Michael's and Ashcombe Birth Centre in Weston, as space does not
allow). Your accompanying partner must wait outside of the hospital
until they are called in (this is to ensure adequate social
distancing in the waiting areas). Please do not attend with any
children.
- You and your partner will both need to wear a surgical face
mask (with the exception of those who are exempt) in our hospitals
at all times. These are available as you enter the building.
Guidance around face mask exemptions is available on the
Government website. Please notify us on attendance if you are
exempt from wearing a face mask. The Trust will endeavour to make
reasonable adjustments for you, if appropriate.
- You must also use the hand gel at all entrances and exits.
- You must not visit in any circumstances if you have a new
continuous cough, high temperature or have a loss/change in your
normal sense of smell or taste. For more information and
guidance on coronavirus, please visit www.nhs.uk/coronavirus .
- To provide safe and personalised maternity care and to support
people's attendance at maternity appointments, a lateral flow
antigen test is suggested. Women and their support partners are
able to order tests online to self administer at
home via the national portal. Pregnant women and their support
people are advised to undertake testing twice weekly during
pregnancy and test within 24 hours before an appointment. For more
information or if you have any questions, please visit the Lateral flow antigen test for pregnant women and
support people FAQs.
- If you believe that you have additional needs that need to be
taken into account please contact the Matron by calling switchboard
on 0117 923 0000. Further details about scan appointments can be
found on the
FAQs page.
- For appointments at our day assessment units at St Michael's
Hospital and Ashcombe Birth Centre, please continue to attend these
appointments on your own to allow for social distancing.
- For fetal medicine and early pregnancy clinic
appointments you can be accompanied by one non-symptomatic
person.
- Women will be offered telephone appointments where clinically
appropriate.
- Children are not allowed in clinic or on the wards.
- Community midwifery clinics and home visits are still running
as necessary; women are being assessed and only essential
face-to-face visits are being undertaken. If you attend a community
midwifery clinic, you can be accompanied by a supporting partner.
(Please see point four for update around Lateral flow
testing).
- We regret that we're unable to offer antenatal classes or tours
of the unit at the current time.
These measures have been put in place to protect our patients,
staff and visitors, which includes being able to ensure we can
maintain social distancing in our waiting areas, appointment and
delivery rooms. We will continue to keep this guidance under
review.
Appointments at Ashcombe Birth Centre (Weston)
You can be accompanied by one non-symptomatic person (ideally
the birth partner) for all scans and consultant antenatal
appointments (apart from our day assessment units, as space does
not allow this). Please do not attend with any children. Your
accompanying partner can come into Ashcombe and wait with you in
the waiting area on the unit.
- You and your partner will both need to wear a surgical face
mask (with the exception of those who are exempt) in our hospitals
at all times. These are available as you enter the building.
Guidance around face mask exemptions is available on the
Government website. Please notify us on attendance if you are
exempt from wearing a face mask. The Trust will endeavour to make
reasonable adjustments for you, if appropriate.
- You must also use the hand gel at all entrances and exits.
- You must not visit in any circumstances if you have a new
continuous cough, high temperature or have a loss/change in your
normal sense of smell or taste. For more information and
guidance on coronavirus, please visit www.nhs.uk/coronavirus .
- To provide safe and personalised maternity care and to support
people's attendance at maternity appointments, a lateral flow
antigen test is suggested. Women and their support partners are
able to order tests online to self administer at
home via the national portal. Pregnant women and their support
people are advised to undertake testing twice weekly during
pregnancy and test within 24 hours before an appointment. For
more information or if you have any questions, please visit
the Lateral flow antigen test for pregnant women and
support people FAQs.
- If you believe that you have additional needs that need to be
taken into account please contact the matron by calling switchboard
on 0117 923 0000.
- For appointments at our day assessment units at St Michael's
Hospital and Ashcombe Birth Centre, please continue to attend these
appointments on your own to allow for social distancing.
- For early pregnancy clinic appointments you can be
accompanied by one non-symptomatic person.
- Women will be offered telephone appointments where clinically
appropriate.
- Children are not allowed in clinic or on the wards.
- Community midwifery clinics and home visits are still running
as necessary; women are being assessed and only essential
face-to-face visits are being undertaken. (Please see point 4
for update around Lateral flow testing).
- We regret that we're unable to offer antenatal classes or tours
of the unit at the current time.
These measures have been put in place to protect our patients,
staff and visitors, which includes being able to ensure we can
maintain social distancing in our waiting areas, appointment and
delivery rooms. We will continue to keep this guidance under
review.
Visiting for maternity patients at St Michael's Hospital
One named non-symptomatic partner/supporter can visit on
the wards between 9am and 6pm.
Anyone coming into hospital must:
- Clean your hands before entering and leaving the building and
use the hand sanitiser outside each ward, department or area.
- Wear a surgical face mask (unless exempt from doing so) which
are available at all hospital entrances. Guidance around exemptions
is available on the
Government website. Please notify us on attendance if you are
exempt from wearing a face mask. The Trust will endeavour to make
reasonable adjustments, if appropriate.
- Give others space. Continue to follow the maximum room and lift
capacity advice.
If you believe that you have additional needs that need to be
taken into account please contact the matron or your community
midwife who will be happy to discuss this with you.
Once transferred to the postnatal ward, free WiFi is available
to everyone so patients can make phone or video calls to their
family and friends using apps including Facetime, WhatsApp or Skype
and mobile reception is available across our site. Please be
aware that we do not allow any video calling, photographs or
recordings to be carried out during scan appointments due to the
concentration required by the sonographer.
If you have any questions, please contact your midwife or the
matron by calling switchboard on 0117 923 0000.
Alternative COVID-19 vaccination
If you are from the Bristol, North Somerset and South
Gloucestershire area and require an alternative vaccine to the
AstraZeneca vaccine please email bnssg.massvaccination@nhs.net providing
your name, date of birth, post code, contact number and eligibility
for the vaccine (e.g. you are in an eligible cohort or are a
frontline worker).
Patient Laura has also shared her experience of giving birth at
the hospital during the restrictions in this video.
This animation sets out what pregnant
women should expect from NHS maternity services during the
coronavirus. Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, Chief Midwifery Officer, and
Dr Matthew Jolly, National Clinical Director for Maternity for the
NHS in England, explain what might change and why it is important
to keep in touch with your maternity team.
Click here to view the video
NHS Volunteer Responders scheme
The NHS Volunteer Responders
scheme is open to all pregnant
people, not just those who are shielding or vulnerable.
Volunteer responders can help with picking up
shopping or prescriptions, lifts to/from hospital
and health appointments. Call 0808 196 3646 or visit
their website for more
details.
Download our maternity services app
The My Pregnancy @ St Michael's app can be downloaded onto Apple
and Android smartphones and tablets. The free app enables people to
access more than 60 patient information leaflets produced by our
experienced midwives and clinicians. To download the app, type 'St
Michael's Bristol' into the app store on your
device.
Apple App store
Android App store
Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP)
At the Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) for Bristol, North
Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG), everything we do is
with the aim of improving maternity services for all. We are a team
of people who work together to transform your maternity
care. If you or your partner are pregnant or have recently had
a baby, then you can be a member. Find out more.
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