A survey has opened today for families and staff to shape the service offered by Walsall’s Midwifery-Led Unit (MLU) which is being re-located to the Manor Hospital from its stand-alone site.
The relocation is part of a £1.6m Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust Maternity Services refurbishment and follows feedback from families who have said they would like access to an onsite MLU. The refurbishment also includes the relocation of the bereavement suite to create an enhanced environment for parents who have suffered a loss.
Moving the MLU next to the hospital’s Maternity Unit will mean offering more birth choices to a greater number of women. Within the existing unit only low-risk women – with strict criteria – have been able to use the service. These criteria can now be expanded when the unit is co-located in a hospital setting.
The Trust has been working closely with Walsall Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) prior to this work being started and the group has helped develop the short survey to give people an opportunity to have their say.
Carla Jones-Charles, Director of Midwifery, Gynaecology and Sexual Health at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “The views of women and families are important to us as the relocation is an exciting opportunity that we want to ensure all our families are involved in.
“Relocation opens up greater birth choices and creates an opportunity for us to enhance the service. Feedback is an important part of this process. The survey has been created so that families can share their suggestions about the MLU specifically as well as make some broader comments about Maternity Services too. We have also worked with colleagues at the Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) who will helping us to share the survey out in the community.”
The survey can be found here and closes at midnight on Wednesday 22 March.
Redevelopment work started in November 2022 and is taking place in two phases. Phase One is focusing on the MLU relocation and the transformation of the current emergency maternity entrance into the new main entrance for maternity services.
The existing MLU is currently 0.8miles away from the hospital. Being within the Maternity Unit means that women and babies who may have complications as their labour and birth progress have rapid access to staff who are able to support urgent care.