COVID-19 update
Maternity services
The information on this page is correct as of 20 September
2022.
Attending our maternity services safely:
- If you are COVID-19 positive and coming for an appointment,
please inform your midwife and sonographer. This will not affect
your care.
- Birth partners and visitors are asked to not come to the
hospital if they feel unwell. This includes symptoms of COVID-19,
sickness, diarrhoea, fever, sore throat or flu.
- If you are attending St Michael's Hospital (Bristol) or
Ashcombe Birth Centre (Weston) you do not need to wear a mask when
entering the hospital, or in communal or outpatient areas. However,
you and any supporting person will be asked to wear a mask on the
central delivery suite (CDS), the maternity-led birthing unit
(MLU), the day assessment unit (DAU) and the maternity wards at St
Michael's Hospital, and in the birth rooms and the day assessment
unit (DAU) at Ashcombe Birth Centre.
- We recommend that patients and supporting people who are
severely immuno-compromised, or who have respiratory symptoms or
are positive for COVID-19, continue to wear a mask in all areas of
the hospital.
- 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. The Matron can
be contacted by calling switchboard on 0117 923 0000.
Labour and birth at St Michael's Hospital and Ashcombe Birth
Centre
- Two nominated birthing partners are allowed to be with you
during labour and the birth.
- If you give birth on one of our birthing units and you and your
baby are able to go home within 2-3 hours after giving birth, your
birthing partners will be able to stay with you until you and your
baby leave.
Home births
Our home births service is still available where appropriate.
Please speak to your midwife to discuss your options.
Scans at St Michael's Hospital and Ashcombe Birth Centre:
You will be able to attend all scans and appointments at our day
assessment units at St Michael's Hospital and Ashcombe Birth Centre
with one non-symptomatic adult.
Further details about scan appointments can be found on
the FAQs page.
Appointments at St Michael's Hospital and Ashcombe Birth
Centre
You can be accompanied by one non-symptomatic person (ideally
the birth partner) for all scans and consultant antenatal
appointments, and to appointments at our day assessment units at St
Michael's Hospital and Ashcombe Birth Centre,
For fetal medicine and early pregnancy clinic
appointments you can be accompanied by one non-symptomatic
person.
Community midwifery clinics and home visits are still running as
usual. If you attend a community midwifery clinic, you can be
accompanied by a supporting partner.
We regret that we are unable to offer tours of the unit at the
current time, but you can view a video tours here.
These measures have been put in place to protect our patients,
staff and visitors. We will continue to keep this guidance under
review.
Visiting for maternity patients at St Michael's Hospital
A maximum of two adult visitors can visit you at any one time
between 9am and 8pm. Siblings of the newborn are welcome to join
your visitors.
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.
Visiting the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)
If your baby needs to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care
unit (NICU) at St Michael's Hospital, both parents have access to
the unit at all times of the day. In addition to the parents of the
baby, 4 named visitors and the siblings of the patient can also
visit between 12pm to 8pm. Due to social distancing, a maximum of 3
people can be at the cot side at any one time, and this must
include at least one of the baby's parents. At times we may ask to
restrict this. Please speak to staff for further details.
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 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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