‘To be recognised for providing the highest quality of care by putting women and their families at the heart of what we do. We will work in partnership with women with courage, compassion and kindness.’
The Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust provides maternity services from early pregnancy continuing right up until after the birth, for around 4,000 babies each year.
We can offer three choices of place to give birth, including at home, in our Princess Alexandra birthing unit – a home-from-home environment run by midwives which is situated within our maternity unit, or on our labour ward supported by a team of midwives and doctors, all providing personalised and safe maternity care.
At the Princess Alexandra Hospital, we understand that during pregnancy, right up until after birth, there are many choices to make and questions to answer. This app has been introduced to provide additional support for you and your family to have the best possible experience during this important time.
We recognise how important it is for staff to understand and discuss your choices relating to pregnancy, birth and early parenthood, and would encourage you to share your preferences with them. These can be adapted and changed according to you and your baby’s needs at any time.
Our maternity staff proudly uphold our Trust values, providing care that is respectful, caring, responsible and committed, and we recognise this is positively reflected in the service we provide.
We are now in the fortunate position to be making plans for our new state-of–the-art hospital building, which will include a new maternity unit, which is being developed for 2025.
Our specialist services include
Princess Alexandra Birth Centre
Consultant Led Labour Ward
Continuity of Carer teams, where you will receive care from a small team of midwives, with one midwife providing most of your maternity care.
Specialist Clinics including: Diabetes and Endocrinology service, Fetal Medicine Clinic, Vaginal Birth After Caesarean (VBAC) Clinic, Healthy Lifestyle Specialist Midwife, Bereavement Specialist Midwife and Homebirth service.
Maternal and Fetal Assessment Unit
Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit
Private rooms available on the antenatal and postnatal wards
"Our experienced and friendly maternity team offer a wide range of birth choices for women in a variety of settings."
The Lister’s Diamond Jubilee Maternity Unit opened in October 2011 and sees over 5,500 babies born every year. Our aim is to assist you to have a safe pregnancy and a healthy baby.
You can choose to have your baby at home, in our midwife-led unit, or in the consultant-led unit that provides care for women with more complicated pregnancies.
Our midwife-led unit and consultant-led unit are located at the Lister Hospital, Stevenage.
Currently we have five birthing pools in the maternity unit that may be used for labour and/or birth, including one in our consultant-led unit.
At East & North Herts NHS Trust we provide antenatal services at the Diamond Jubilee Maternity Unit, Hertford County Hospital and at the QE2 Hospital in Welwyn Garden City.
We provide care that is personalised, respectful and safe. This is important to us and we are proud of our services and staff that work hard to achieve this.
Our specialist services include
Fetal medicine
Healthy lifestyle midwife
Perinatal mental health midwife
Specialist diabetic services
Multiple pregnancy service
Consultant midwife birth options clinic
Homebirth service
Pools for water birth in the consultant-led unit and the midwife-led unit
If you are having your baby at Watford Hospital and approaching or after 30 weeks of pregnancy, then sign up to our Antenatal Breastfeeding Workshop using the password: breastfeeding.
It can be helpful to review events around pregnancy and birth. In Herts and West Essex all maternity units have a birth reflection/listening service that can be accessed at any time after giving birth or when you return for subsequent pregnancies. To find out about how to access this service, speak to your community midwife.
Essex
Central contact and information for all the Essex Birth Registration Centres listed below:
This is a decision you will make following discussion with your midwife or doctor at around 34-36 weeks of pregnancy, but it is helpful to start thinking about your preferences before this time.
Each maternity unit in Herts and West Essex offers three locations for birth: home, midwife led unit or obstetric (consultant unit. You may also choose to access a free-standing midwifery unit outside of our area. Please talk to your midwife to discuss your choice.
Each maternity unit in Herts and West Essex is linked to its hospital trust’s charity. Hospital charities raise money via fundraising activities for parents and staff and by coordinating and receiving charitable donations. Money raised is re-invested into service improvement projects. Find out more about your local NHS hospital charity.
Women and their families are encouraged to provide feedback via our purpose-built feedback websites (links below) to help us continually improve our services. You can also give your feedback to your maternity teams via the following methods:
Face-to-face if you are currently in hospital
Telephone
E-mail
Letter
Local Maternity Voices Partnership group
Please ask your midwife for further information.
The friends and family test has been paused at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust and The Princess Alexandra Hospitals NHS Trust during the response to COVID-19.
This app, originally developed by North West London Local Maternity System, has been adapted for use in the Herts and West Essex LMNS area.
If you live outside of Herts and West Essex LMNS, you can still use this app’s content and develop your personal care plans. To find your nearest unit follow this link:
The Herts and West Essex Local Maternity and Neonatal System, in partnership with other services, support our women and families with their mental health, emotional wellbeing and mental health awareness. We consider your mental health and emotional wellbeing to be just as important as your physical health.
Please speak to your midwife or obstetrician if you need support with your mental health.
The following websites and telephone numbers can also be used to access advice and support:
Hertfordshire
If you need urgent support please contact our Single Point of Access number.
National maternal and neonatal programmes in Herts and West Essex
The Maternity and Neonatal Safety Improvement Programme (MatNeoSIP)
This project aims to improve the safety and outcomes of maternal and neonatal care by reducing variation in practice and providing a high quality healthcare experience for all women babies and their families across England.
PReCePT (Prevention of Cerebral Palsy in Preterm Labour)
The PReCePT programme aims to reduce the incidence of cerebral palsy in babies born prematurely by giving women a medication called magnesium sulphate during labour. This programme is being rolled out across BOB and other activities include improving care, strengthening staff capability across maternal and neonatal units and supporting mothers to become more involved with their care to improve quality of life of preterm babies and their families.
You can opt to have private healthcare during your pregnancy and birth. Find more information about private maternity units and locate specific private maternity units here.
Private rooms
All hospitals in Herts and West Essex have the option of private rooms for after the birth, and these vary in cost. Please ask your midwife for more information.
Some Herts and West Essex maternity units participate in research projects.
To find out how you can participate in a research trial go to:
We strive for continuous improvement ensuring women and families have a safe and positive, personalised care experience.
Women and staff will work within a culture of kindness and trust to develop pathways that empower families to have proactive involvement, positively impacting health and wellbeing for the future.
We will develop and invest in our workforce supporting them to provide quality care.
Digital improvements will be utilised to share information across the LMNS and provide choice to service users in an accessible way.
Depending on how many weeks pregnant you are, you may be offered medicines to try and slow down or stop your labour, antibiotics to reduce the risk of developing an infection, and steroid injections that are given to you, to help your baby’s lungs develop and prepare for life outside the womb should they be born early. If your baby is extremely preterm (less than 28 weeks) you may need to be transferred to a maternity unit with a neonatal intensive care unit.
In Herts and West Essex, each maternity unit has a local neonatal unit/special care baby unit caring for babies who need additional support. If your baby requires neonatal intensive care they may need to be transferred to a more specialist hospital. Please speak to your midwife or obstetrician for more information.
You will meet several midwives throughout your pregnancy, birth and beyond. Midwives are the main caregiver when your pregnancy and birth are straight forward. In Herts & West Essex you will have a named midwife as part of a team to organise your maternity care.
Obstetrician
An obstetrician is a doctor who specialise in the care of women during pregnancy, labour and after birth. You may be referred to an obstetrician if your midwife has any concerns about your pregnancy – for example, if you had a previous complication in pregnancy or if you have a long term illness. You can ask to see an obstetrician if you have any concerns you would like to discuss.
Paediatrician/Neonatalogist(baby doctor)
Paediatricians or neonatologists are doctors specialising in the care of newborn babies and children. They will be involved in your care if early (premature) delivery is anticipated or if there are likely to be concerns about the health of your baby during or after the birth.
Sonographer
These are professionals who undertake your ultrasound scans. They are specially trained to undertake scans during pregnancy.
Maternity support worker
You may meet maternity support workers during pregnancy, birth or beyond. They support the maternity team and provide some of your care throughout the journey.
Student midwife
In Herts and West Essex we work closely with local universities to support midwives in training. These students will work alongside their midwife ‘mentor’ and will ask for your consent before providing you with any care.
Health Visitor
Health visitors work in teams. They work closely with the other professionals listed above, including GPs and organisations that support families where you live. Most families in England will be offered several review contacts and additional support depending on the individual needs of your family.The health promoting visit at 28 weeks of pregnancy, is the first time that the health visitor meets parents. A health needs assessment will be agreed, covering physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing. The health visitor will also discuss a number of issues, including transition to parenthood, how to enhance the parent-child bonding experience and how parents can help their baby’s early development.
Other staff members
You may meet other members of staff or medical students, depending on your pregnancy needs and where you choose to have your care. Please click here for more information.
Our objective
Herts and West Essex are committed to implementing the recommendations from Better Births, which aims to provide care that is "safer, more personalised, kinder, professional and more family friendly; where every woman has access to information to enable her to make decisions about her care; and where she and her baby can access support that is centred around their individual needs and circumstances".
Visit A Healthier Future to find out more about how you can get involved in health improvement projects in Herts and West Essex.
{‘hospitals’:[{‘slug’:’hospital-the-lister-hospital-diamond-jubilee-maternity-unit’,’name’:”The Lister Hospital Diamond Jubilee Maternity Unit”,’imageurl’:’http://mumandbabyv4.imagineear.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Lister-hospital.jpg’,’id’:0,’coordinate’: {‘latitude’:51.925279,’longitude’:-0.212949}},{‘slug’:’hospital-the-princess-alexandra-hospital-maternity-unit’,’name’:”The Princess Alexandra Hospital Maternity Unit”,’imageurl’:’http://mumandbabyv4.imagineear.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/PAHT-Trust-Photo.jpg’,’id’:1,’coordinate’: {‘latitude’:51.771219,’longitude’:0.085772}},{‘slug’:’hospital-watford-general-hospital-maternity-unit’,’name’:”Watford General Hospital Maternity Unit”,’imageurl’:’http://mumandbabyv4.imagineear.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/wgh-2-photo.jpg’,’id’:2,’coordinate’: {‘latitude’:51.648289,’longitude’:-0.403480}}]}
