£400,000 refurbishment of Princess Royal Hospital maternity centre
The number of delivery rooms with en-suite facilities has increased from one to seven and there are now three birthing pools available, where previously there was one.
The rooms were officially opened by Heart FM DJ Tom Evans, along with his wife and baby girl Amelia who was born at the hospital just three weeks ago.
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Hide AdThe hospital maternity services were granted £400,000 by the Department of Health for improvements, which has also included two new birthing pools at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.
Birthing pools offer many benefits to women, with studies showing they can help reduce the length of the first stage of labour and can help with pain relief.
At Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals around 10% of women currently use birthing pools for labour and about 4% stay in the pool to birth their babies.
It is hoped that the new pools will increase the number of women using the water to help them during labour and birth and better accommodate birthing preferences.
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Hide AdTom Evans officially opened the birthing pool with Nicky Van-Eerde, manager of Maternity and Gynaecology Services, acting deputy head of Midwifery Jenny Davidson and Helen O’Dell, associate chief nurse for Women and Children.
Tom said: “I am very privileged to be back at the Princess Royal Hospital opening these fantastic new facilities, which provide a wonderful environment for women having their babies.”