Birthday delivery for city birth centre

Preston Birth Centre celebrated its third anniversary last week.

The milestone moment saw staff helping to deliver the 2,310th baby at the state of the art centre at Royal Preston Hospital.

The Centre, in the Sharoe Green maternity unit, prides itself on offering a “home from home” experience for mums to be.

Manager Trudy Delves said: “We’re really proud. More and more women are using our service. It’s like a homely environment to give birth. Mums have one to one midwifery care. The Centre is staffed by team midwives and they are likely to meet the midwife who looks after them in the community.”

She continued: “Staff love the Birth Centre – they love supporting women, especially women they know, in labour.”

The centre has four birthing rooms with integrated birthing pools and two overnight suites for partners. While the service is midwifery led, consultants, obstetricians and paediatric staff based at the hospital’s nearby maternity ward are available if needed.

Trudy said NICE (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) recommends women with low risk pregnancies consider giving birth in such centres because they are more likely to have a better birth experience with less medical intervention.

A celebratory open day is now being planned for next June.

There is also a Birth Centre at Chorley Hospital.