Birth Environment (Improvements)

Dan Poulter Excerpts

Monday 12th November 2012 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Dr Daniel Poulter)]

I am announcing a £25 million capital funding in 2012-13 for the NHS to improve the birthing environment in the maternity units that need it most, so both mothers and fathers, and the staff who work in the units, can benefit from a more pleasant and appropriate environment.

Women should receive excellent maternity services that focus on the best outcomes both for them and their babies, based on women’s experience of care. It is important for all women to be able to give birth in a safe, high quality environment that is best suited for them. Birthing environments should be designed so to provide for the safe care of mothers, fathers and baby in a comfortable, relaxing environment that facilitates what is a normal physiological process, enabling one-to-one midwife care during labour and birth in privacy whenever possible, while enhancing the family’s enjoyment of an important life event.

This builds on the Government’s pledge to improve maternity care by making sure:

women will have one named midwife who will oversee their care during pregnancy and after they have had their baby;

every woman has one-to-one midwife care during labour and birth; and

parents-to-be will get the best choice about where and how they give birth.

Providers will be able to bid for central funding in the current financial year to support the refurbishment of wards, for example, by adding ensuite facilities, providing new facilities to allow fathers to stay overnight at the birth and new equipment such as birthing pools. Bids will need to meet the criteria set out in “Maternity care facilities: Planning and design manual, Version:0.8:England (2011)”.

The criteria for applying for funding and the deadline for receipt of applications will be announced shortly. It is important that the views and experiences of women and their families locally inform the development and design of birthing environments. The successful projects will have demonstrated involvement and support from service users and the ability to deliver the project in the current financial year.