John Radcliffe Hospital – Delivery Suite
Address
John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way
Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU
“The vision for maternity services in Oxfordshire is for the right woman to get into the right part of the maternity services and to be cared for by the right professional. The aim is for every woman to experience personalised care from an early medical risk assessment through to birth and beyond. It encompasses real choice and continuity of care throughout the pregnancy, birth and postnatal period.
“It is our aim that all staff provide respectful, safe, compassionate and excellent care to all women and their babies in our care.”
John Radcliffe Hospital – Women’s Centre
More than 7,500 babies are born in the Women’s Centre every year. We are a regional referral unit for women with higher risk pregnancies and our neonatal unit provides special care for babies in Oxfordshire and across the South East.
If you have a low risk pregnancy we would encourage you to have your baby at home or at one of our midwifery-led units. Within the Women’s Centre we have two options for you to have your baby, the Oxford Spires midwifery-led unit on Level 7 or the Delivery Suite on Level 2.
Spires
Oxford Spires midwifery-led unit offers women an alternative to the consultant-led maternity service at the John Radcliffe Hospital. It is staffed by midwives and maternity support workers who offer care during labour and immediately after birth for women who have had an uncomplicated pregnancy.
Our aim is to provide a safe, relaxed and informal environment for you. You will be offered a personal and family-centred service with a strong emphasis on skilled, sensitive and respectful midwifery care. We have five birthing rooms, all en-suite and three with a birthing pool.
Labour
During labour you will be cared for by midwives on a one to one basis, who are highly skilled in facilitating a natural birth. Our unit provides a relaxed, home from home environment, the rooms are designed to help you to relax and encourage the release of natural pain-relieving hormones. We provide a range of birthing equipment to support an active and upright labour, such as beanbags, mattresses and birthing balls. We also encourage dim lighting, music of your choice and can offer aromatherapy. There are further pain relief options on the unit, including heat packs, Entonox, water injections into your back and Meptid injections.
Most births are straightforward however the midwives and maternity support workers are trained to deal with emergencies and monitor you and your baby regularly through labour. Complications are swiftly recognised and if it is felt you or baby should be seen by a doctor then you will be accompanied down to the Delivery Suite on Level 2.
Postnatal
Following your delivery you may stay for just a few hours or choose to stay for additional support overnight. Staff in the unit are committed to helping you breastfeed your baby and help you to learn this skill confidently. We also provide individual support if you choose to feed your baby formula.
Depending on how long you stay with us we may be able to provide further services such as the newborn infant physical examination (NIPE), newborn hearing screen and registering your baby’s birth (Please see Level 5 description for the details of these services).
Please contact us on Tel: 01865 221666
The unit is staffed 24/7.
Delivery Suite
Our Delivery suite is consultant led, in your pregnancy you may have been recommended to have you baby on this unit because of a medical condition or pregnancy complication. There will be a great team involved in your care, mainly a midwife but you will also be given the chance to discuss your options throughout labour with a doctor. Some of our midwives also work in community and we make every effort for you to be cared by someone in your community team. The highly skilled midwives on the unit will support both you and your birth partner to create a calming birth environment, encouraging you to be mobile and adapt a range of upright birth positions to aid the natural processes of labour.
Labour
Delivery Suite has 15 birthing rooms, one of which has a birthing pool. While you are in the birthing room it is your space – you can rearrange the furniture, adjust the height of the bed, bring extra pillows and have your chosen birth companion with you. We will do our best to support you and your birth partners (ideally only two), but there may be occasions where is it necessary to limit the amount of people in the room, your midwife will discuss this with you at the time.
We have a variety of coping strategies available on delivery suite, from using the birthing pool, heat pads, aromatherapy, Entonox, water for injections into the skin on your back, pain relieving tablets and injections and a 24 hour epidural service.
If you have to go to theatre for the birth or any complication after the birth, the theatre is within the Delivery Suite, we will always try to keep your birth partner with you in theatre unless there is an emergency. The midwife who has been caring for you will be beside you to offer reassurance and support. There will be a bigger team caring for you and they will introduce themselves and their role. From theatre you will be moved to the Observation Area (please see below for more details on this area).
Elective caesareans are carried out on the delivery suite Monday-Friday.
Postnatal
That unique time immediately after your delivery will be protected by your midwife. Offering you and your birth companion opportunity for skin to skin, should you wish, and to support to initiate your baby’s first feed, however you choose to do this.
If your pregnancy and birth has been uncomplicated and you and your baby are well, you may wish to go straight home from Delivery Suite, or alternatively be transferred to the postnatal ward.
Maternity Assessment Unit(MAU)
MAU is a 24 hour emergency triage department which cares for pregnant women from 16 weeks gestation to six weeks postnatally. It is open every day of the year and is staffed by three Midwives and one Maternity Support Worker. MAU does not have its own doctors but is covered by the team of doctors working on Delivery Suite.
MAU accepts telephone referrals from women themselves, community midwives, GPs, other clinics within the hospital and other hospital requiring specialist treatment. You may be referred to the MAU in pregnancy if your community midwife has any concerns about you or your baby's health.
Our midwives talk to women on the phone and may invite them to come in to be assessed if they are in labour or if they have any concerns. During office hours you may also like to consider contacting your community midwife, GP or pharmacist for advice if you do not need emergency attention. We see women for a variety of reasons, such as vaginal bleeding, reduced fetal movements, feeling unwell, abdominal pain, when your waters break or if you think you are in labour.
Woman with high risk pregnancies or women who wish to birth on Delivery Suite will also be assessed on MAU, but low risk women in labour may be assessed at one of the birthing centres. Women in labour may be assessed by midwives on the MAU, and then transferred to the most suitable birth environment or discharged home if in early labour. If there are any concerns or complications, they will be reviewed by a doctor.
We ask that all women call MAU for advice prior to arrival. This ensures that women are triaged appropriately. Women are seen in order of clinical need and therefore at busy times there may be a delay in being seen, or women who arrived after you are seen first. If your symptoms worsen whilst you are waiting to be seen please let the ward clerk in reception know.
Our phone number is Tel: 01865 220221.
Observation Area
This is our maternity high dependency and recovery ward that is attached to Delivery Suite. If you require added input from our medical staff or closer observation you will be cared for here in your pregnancy. You may also be “recovered” on our ward following theatre; this means that the staff will look after you and your baby until you are mobile and feeling well.
Most of our wards comprise bays each with four beds; we will do our best to maintain your privacy and dignity at all times. The ward can be contact on Tel: 01865 221996, however, like with all departments no patient information can be given out over the phone.
Level 5
This is our unit's postnatal ward; you will be transferred here after the birth of your baby from either Delivery Suite or Observation Area. Most of our wards comprise bays each with four beds; we will do our best to maintain your privacy and dignity at all times. There are nine four-bedded bays, seven single rooms and four larger purpose build family rooms with en-suite. There is a regular catering service throughout the day but we also have a 24/7 menu should you need further refreshment.
You will be cared for by our team of midwives, maternity support workers, nurses and doctors. You may also meet newborn hearing screeners, paediatricians and physiotherapists. Our aim is ensure you and your baby are fit and well, you are rested and confidently feeding your baby before going home. For some women this may be a short stay with us and longer for some.
The ward has a transitional care unit; it is a seven-bedded area where we care for babies requiring extra support. This may be babies of a lower birth weight or babies born below 37 weeks gestation. Transitional care enables more mothers and babies to stay together and reduces the number of babies requiring low level care on the special baby care unit.
The ward can be contacted on tel: 01865 221880, however as with all departments no patient information can be given out over the phone.
Newborn Hearing Screening
We try to offer hearing screen before you get discharged at the John Radcliffe, The Horton, or in an outpatient clinic in your area – this will be offered within four weeks of birth. The hearing screen is straightforward and most babies sleep while having the screen. The purpose of hearing screening is to find babies who have a hearing loss, one to two in every thousand babies are born with a permanent hearing loss. Finding a hearing loss early is important for your baby’s development.
Newborn Infant Paediatric Examination Clinic
There is a newborn examination clinic held on Level 5, the newborn examination is offered to all newborn babies within 72 hours of birth, and once again between six to eight weeks for conditions relating to the heart, hips, eyes and testes in baby boys. As it is required between 6 to 72 hours from birth, this should ideally be done before you are discharged home.
Most newborn babies will be examined by midwives and some by paediatricians or advanced neonatal nurse practitioners. The newborn check is completed in hospital, but can be done in community clinics and at home (if you are discharged quickly). During the baby check parents can ask questions and discuss concerns they might have. Some newborn babies require a review by a paediatricians or an onward referral to a specialist. The health professional will document the newborn check in the child health record (red book).
Registering the birth
If your baby is born at the John Radcliffe Hospital Women's Centre, you can register the birth at the Registrar's Office on Level 4. You may only register your baby here if you have not yet been discharged. Please bring your baby's red book and a form of identification. The opening hours are Monday-Friday 9am-12pm and 1pm-3.30pm.
Level 6
While most of our ward comprises of the four-bedded bays; we will do our best to maintain your privacy and dignity at all times. The ward is mainly staffed by highly skilled midwives, our brilliant maternity support workers and a team of doctors to provide excellent care for you and your baby.
One of the four-bedded wards (Room 9) is the induction of labour suite, staffed daily by a midwife and MSW. There is a dayroom at one end of the ward which is used by in-patients and their visitors.
It is a ward linked, but not exclusively, with the Silver Star Unit which specialises in providing care to women with complex medical conditions in pregnancy such as diabetes, epilepsy, pre-eclampsia and cardiac abnormalities, and the Fetal Medicine Unit which provides care for women with complexities in pregnancy around their baby/babies.
You may be cared for Level 6 in your pregnancy if you have complications and need closer observation from our midwives and medical team. Your stay can range from overnight to several weeks depending on your situation. You may also be cared for in early labour, while we recommend the best place to allow your labour to progress is at home, if you require pain relief before going to your chosen birth place, this can be given on the ward.
The ward can be contact on tel: 01865 221721, however like with all departments no patient information can be given out over the phone.
The other end of Level 6 is a busy Monday to Friday outpatient service. This is to attend the Day Assessment Unit and specialist clinics run by Silver Star, Fetal Medicine and also PND (prenatal diagnosis). A specialist team of doctors, midwives and heath care professionals run this department.
The contact number for outpatients is tel: 01865 221711.
Ultrasound Scan Department
We are a busy, friendly outpatient department and perform over 20,000 scans a year. We routinely scan you at 12 weeks for a dating and screening for abnormalities scan, at 20 weeks for a more detailed examination of your baby and at 36 weeks to check your babies growth and wellbeing. We also scan outside these times if it is required/necessary/needed.
You may bring one support person to accompany you to the scan. Children are not permitted. We offer the option to purchase a scan picture of your baby at 12 and 20 weeks. Payment is by card only.
Our opening times are Monday to Friday 8am–5pm and Saturday 8am-1pm. We are situated on the 4th floor in the Women’s Centre.
Tel: 01865 221721
Email: maternity.ultrasound@ouh.nhs.uk
Please communicate with us by email if you wish to change your appointment or have a non-urgent enquiry.
Our specialist services include
Specialist Services
Antenatal Clinic
At the first appointment with your community midwife, or at a later point in your pregnancy if a complication occurs, you may be referred to see one of our obstetricians. This could be for a variety of reasons that the doctor needs to review. They may need to be involved in your care for the rest of your pregnancy. Or it may be that they discuss your options for your pregnancy, birth and afterwards, and then you can continue just seeing your community midwife.
The different clinics are held on level 1 of the Women’s Centre, you will get an appointment through the post. You will be met by a maternity support worker who will ask you for a urine sample to test, check your weight, measure your blood pressure and carbon monoxide level. You will then see one of the obstetricians and a midwife.
Please contact the appointment office on Tel: 01865 221645
Or the clinic on Tel: 01865 221643
Antenatal Mindfulness
This is a course that introduces mindfulness and will combine learning mindfulness meditation practices with information on labour, childbirth and the transition to parenthood. It is held by midwives and teachers trained in Mindfulness Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP)
Our course runs one evening a week, over 4 weeks, from 6.30pm – 9.00pm, either on-line or in-person. We welcome women attending with a birth partner or attending individually.
For more information or to register please email: Sian.Warriner@ouh.nhs.uk
Birth Afterthoughts
This is a listening and debriefing service for women and their families who have questions about their birthing experience. The service is run by midwives and is open to all women who have had their babies under the care of OUH. The service can be accessed for 12 months after birth or in a subsequent pregnancy.
Please call our answer phone on Tel: 01865 220605 to leave your details.
Birth After Caesarean Clinic and Birth Choice Clinic
The Birth After Caesarean (BAC) clinic is for women who have concerns about having a vaginal birth when they have had a Caesarean birth previously. The aim of this clinic is to help women make an informed choice about the birth of their baby. Similarly the Birth Choice Clinic reviews evidence with women to support evidence based choices around option for mode and place for labour and birth.
Breech Clinic
You may visit the delivery suite in your pregnancy to attend the breech clinic; this is run by a team of highly skilled, experienced midwives with support from one of our doctors who is also expert in supporting women with babies in the breech position. Late in your pregnancy if you baby is lying bottom or feet first, this is the breech position. Often this is detected at the 36 week scan and you will be referred to the clinic, who will offer you an appointment to explore your options.
The options include: External Cephalic Version (ECV) – a process by which a breech baby can sometimes be moved into the head-down position manually and can be performed at the breech clinic on the same day if you wish. If you do not want to try ECV or it is unsuccessful you can choose a vaginal breech birth, for which we have a dedicated on-call team or a planned caesarean delivery.
The breech team can be contacted by email: breechteam@ouh.nhs.uk
Diabetes continuity of carer
This is a new continuity of carer pathway for pregnant women and people diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. The specialist diabetic midwives will work with select midwives in your community, throughout pregnancy and postnatally to provide the specific and individual care necessary. The aim is that you are able to build relationships with highly experienced midwives trained to care for you both as a pregnant or new mum, with all the normal questions and concerns you may have and someone with type one diabetes.
Fetal Medicine Unit
Oxford Fetal Medicine unit provides diagnosis, counselling and treatment for pregnant women across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Northamptonshire and Wiltshire. We aim to see pregnant women promptly when a referral is made due to a suspected problem.
Our team of experienced professionals delivers specialist ultrasound care in a compassionate and supportive environment. For some conditions we offer advice, so that the pregnancy and birth can be managed in a local hospital close to the mother's home. For more complex conditions we offer diagnosis, treatment or even planned birth in the John Radcliffe Hospital.
Perinatal Mental Health
Our unit provides a specialist service for those who need added support for their mental health, throughout pregnancy and postnatally. Speak to your community midwife, obstetrician, mental health professional or your GP who can refer you to the team, this may just be for advice or for them to share your care.
The team includes a specialist mental health midwife, who can offer additional emotional support to pregnant women who are having mental health difficulties. She aims to support women to receive the right help from mental health services as well as emotional support, birth planning and liaison with other mental health services to support a coordinated care package.
There is also a maternity liaison psychiatrist, who aims provide integrated care for women with mental illnesses and other psychological needs. The maternity psychiatrist consults with women in the Women’s Centre, women with specific mental health needs or those with complex medical issues.
Rainbow Clinic
The Rainbow Clinic offers a personalised and tailored care pathway for women who have previously lost a baby following a late miscarriage (after 20 weeks gestation), stillbirth or a neonatal death (within one month of life). We recognise that a pregnancy following a loss can be a very worrying and daunting prospect, so our aim is to provide specialist support to reduce anxiety wherever possible. We work alongside community midwives to provide continuity of carer so that women do not have to retell their story to different professionals throughout their pregnancy. This individualised care can look different for everyone – but usually we offer to see women around 20, 28, 32, 36 and 40 weeks. These appointments are flexible and may differ depending on women’s individual needs. We have a close relationship with Petals, the specialist baby loss counselling service, and are also able to signpost to lots of other support networks or groups as and when required.
The Rainbow Clinic team can be contacted through the community midwives or directly on Tel: 01865 227778 or Tel: 07770 967383. We can also be emailed on RainbowClinic@ouh.nhs.uk.
Silver Star
The Silver Star service looks after women with maternal medical conditions, they may be there before pregnancy, such as hypertension or epilepsy, or as a result of the pregnancy, such as pre-eclampsia. We can advise on planning a pregnancy, for women with pre-existing medical conditions, those on long-term medications or with those with previous poor pregnancy outcome. We also have a Rapid Access Maternal Medicine Clinic for urgent medical reviews, for women with new or worsening medical symptoms.
Your care may be shared with your community midwife and the Silver Star unit, attending clinics at the women’s centre. Please contact us on Tel: 01865 221710.
Infant Feeding Team
This highly skilled team is committed to supporting you develop the skills and knowledge you need to confidently feed your baby. This support can be provided in a variety of ways:
Antenatal telephone/video appointments – community midwives can refer women who they feel would benefit from an antenatal appointment. This would include women who are at high risk of insufficient milk supply, previous complex breastfeeding problems, previous breast/chest surgery etc. We would normally aim to speak to these mothers at 34-36 weeks gestation even though referrals may come in much earlier than this.
Women with known risks for lactation would be followed up on the wards in the postnatal period. All other women will be helped to breastfeed their babies by the ward staff who are all trained in giving breastfeeding support.
We run two specialist breastfeeding clinics a week in the Women’s Centre – Monday and Thursday in parent education room on Level 1. Women can self refer by calling or emailing the Infant Feeding Team.
Tel: 01865 572950
Email: infantfeeding.team@ouh.nhs.uk
Alternatively the woman’s community midwife, health visitor or GP may also refer the woman and her baby for an appointment. A member of the infant feeding team will assess the situation on the phone and offer an appointment if appropriate or signpost to other services if it is thought the woman can be helped elsewhere. The appointments are an hour long, one-to-one appointments for mothers and babies of 7 days of age to 6 weeks with complex breastfeeding problems. After 6 weeks of age the health visitors offer an enhanced breastfeeding service.
There are also three organisations that offer feeding support in Oxfordshire alongside us, they are:
3. Abingdon Baby Café: Every Thursday from 12.30-14.00 at Our Lady and St Edmund Parish Centre, Abingdon.
Health Visitors
Your community midwife will notify your local health visiting team, who will make contact with you antenatally around 31-34 weeks pregnant and again postnatally when your baby is around 10 days old.
Transport
Get directions
Please use postcode OX3 9DU, when using online routefinders for directions to the John Radcliffe, to take you to the correct entrance.
If driving to the hospital by car, follow signs for Oxford then the ‘H’/’A&E’ and ‘Hospitals’ signs. You will be directed via the A40 northern by-pass, and B4150 (Marsh Lane) or via Headington on the A420 London Road. These routes take you to the B4495 (Headley Way). The approach road to the John Radcliffe is on Headley Way.
From the Woodstock Road, travel north for one mile, then right (Moreton Road) following the ‘H’ and ‘A&E’ and ‘John Radcliffe’ signs, along Marston Ferry Road to Headley Way.
Transport options
Parking
We do charge for most parking at our hospitals. The car parks are run by the trust and not as a commercial operation. All money raised goes back into patient and visitor services.
Under certain circumstances, patients or visitors may be entitled to discounted or free parking at our hospital sites. Please ask your ward or contact the Car Parking Offices for guidance.
Parking for disabled Blue Badge holders is in car parks 1, 2,3 and 4; disabled parking within these Pay on Foot car parks is subject to charge. There are some free of charge disabled parking bays outside the Women’s Centre.
John Radcliffe Car Parking Office
Tel: 01865 223 044
