Improved and expanded maternity services at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea and St Mary’s hospitals
More mums-to-be will be able to give birth at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea and St Mary’s hospitals following the completion of work to improve and expand facilities, and to increase staff numbers, at both hospitals.
Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital and St Mary’s Hospital – both part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust - have increased their capacity as part of the transfer of maternity services from Ealing Hospital from July.
The reorganisation of services in the north west London area also means that the Trust is now able to offer more pregnant women continuity of care where they will see the same midwives for all their antenatal and postnatal appointments.
Around 3,700 babies are born at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington each year. While at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital, situated between East Acton and White City, around 5,000 babies are born each year. However, the expanded units will now be able to accommodate around 3,900 and 5,800 births each year.
The Trust has also invested in improving and expanding the special care baby unit (SCBU) at St Mary’s Hospital, and both St Mary’s and Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea hospitals have benefitted from the creation of new, purpose-built maternity day-assessment units.
Mandish Dhanjal, chief of service for obstetrics at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust said:
"We are delighted to be able to offer our maternity services to even more women in the north west London area. We provide a wide-range of high quality care for pregnant women and their babies, from very complex deliveries through to the most straight-forward. This investment in our facilities will also help us improve the experience of their stay with us.
“Both hospitals offer supporting services including midwifery-led birthing suites, aromatherapy and other alternative pain relief options in labour, specialist help for women and their babies with a range of health concerns including obesity, diabetes, and other complex medical and fetal problems in pregnancy. The hospitals look after women with multiple pregnancies and women at risk of delivering their babies prematurely. Both hospitals have neonatal intensive care units."
If you are interested in having your baby at either Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital or St Mary’s Hospital, speak to your GP or contact the maternity helpline on 0203 312 6135. Alternatively you can fill in a self-referral form which can be found online.
Notes to editors
Imperial College Healthcare Charity is leading a Birth Centre Appeal to raise £500,000 to help further remodel and expand the already highly regarded birth centre at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital in West London. For more information about the appeal, please visit the Charity’s website.
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