This page was last updated: November 18th, 2022
Our priority is always to support you to have a safe and positive pregnancy and birth experience, to do this we need to ensure you have all the information you need to make informed decisions about your care.
It is important you have all the information when making choices about where you want to birth your baby. If given all the information, you choose to birth at home or within one of the freestanding birth centres, we will continue to support you and provide you with safe and personalised care.
We realise how difficult it is currently, as the COVID-19 Pandemic continues, and we know that information about health options during your pregnancy and birth are essential to you when making choices.
To ensure you remain well, we are strongly advising you to get a COVID-19 booster vaccination as soon as possible. There are increased risks to you, your baby and your health, if you should get COVID whilst pregnant, especially if you are not vaccinated.
Vaccination is recommended at any stage of pregnancy so please do not delay. You can book your vaccination online or by calling 119. If you wish to talk to anyone, please contact our 24-hour triage line below, or email the Head of Midwifery for further support and we will contact you.
As you may know, the ambulance service is facing extremely high demand at the moment and because of this, it is possible response times in the community will be longer than usual. If you choose to give birth in one of our freestanding midwifery birth centres or have a home birth, there may be a chance of a delay if you require ambulance transfer to hospital or if you call an ambulance during your pregnancy. It is important you are aware this could happen, and your midwife will also talk to you about this.
If you become unwell or have any concerns about your health, including your baby’s movements, we advise you to call our maternity triage line as soon as possible for advice. Our midwives are available 24 hours a day. Please do not wait until the situation becomes serious, we want to be able to see you early and ensure you get the care or support you need.
Maternity triage line – 01872 258000 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Your Community Midwife will discuss your pregnancy and birth plans with you during your appointments. The senior management team is available and if you would like to discuss anything further or have any concerns, please contact us:
Sally Brittain – Head of Midwifery; sally.brittain1@nhs.net, tel: 07920 088548
Nicki Burnett – Chair, Kernow MVP;Chair@KMVP.org.uk, tel: 07498 382846
We have been continually reviewing visiting throughout the pandemic and the latest arrangements for our maternity and neonatal services are as follows:
One parent at any time and both parents to be present in the event of a critically ill child.
From the beginning of pregnancy, all partners or support person must commence twice weekly covid-19 testing to enable approved visiting and attendance at appointments
Pregnant women and people can have one support partner with them at:
There may be limitations in visiting which differ from day to day and to protect everyone a daily risk assessment will take place on Wheal Rose each day.
If you do, you must say at home and go online or call 119 to arrange a Covid-19 test.
There will be someone to take your call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Please call the triage team on 01872 258000 if:
Or you experience any of the following:
Most women usually begin to feel their baby move between 16 and 24 weeks of pregnancy. A baby’s movements can be described as anything from a kick, flutter, swish or roll. The type of movement may change as your pregnancy progresses.
If you think your baby’s movements have slowed down or stopped, call the maternity triage team immediately – do not put off calling until the next day to see what happens.
You can find more information about your baby’s movements on the Kicks Count website
For any questions about your care, pregnancy or baby that aren’t an emergency, please call your community midwives if:
Location | Telephone number |
---|---|
Bodmin | 01872 326528 |
Bude and Stratton | 01288 287731 |
Falmouth | 01326 436670 |
Hayle/St Ives | 01736 576130 |
Helston | 01326 435962 |
Helston Birth Centre | 01326 435926 |
Isles of Scilly | 07799 894582 |
Launceston | 01566 761110 |
Newquay, St Eval and St Columb | 01637 834825 |
Penrice | 01726 873079 |
Penzance | 01736 874180 |
Redruth and Camborne | 01209 842172 |
Truro | 01872 246990 |
Wadebridge | 01208 834403 |
Call your GP in surgery hours, or 111 if your GP is closed.
You can ask to speak to the Head of Midwifery, Deputy Head of Midwifery or the matrons if you are concerned about any aspect of your care. Please call 01872 252685 to make an appointment or arrange a call.
Kernow MVP exists to support the implementation of Better Births across Cornwall and The Isles of Scilly. We listen to and engage with those who have recently used our local maternity services and feed this back to those that commission & provide them.
You can find out more about Kernow MVP on the Healthwatch Cornwall website, and on the Kernow Maternity Voices Partnership Facebook Page.
We recognise the importance of protecting personal and confidential information in all that we do, and take care to meet our legal and other duties. Find out more about our approach to privacy and data protection.
You are in control of your treatment and care. We are committed to the principle of ‘no decision about me without me’, so please feel free to ask any questions at any time about your consent to treatment and care.
You can find out more about what consent means in these videos.
The maternity pages have information for women and people who are pregnant. For simplicity of language, sometimes we’ve used the term ‘women’, but this should be taken to also include all people who are pregnant, in labour and in the postnatal period.
If you are pregnant, but don’t identify as a woman, please tell your midwife your preferred pronoun and we’ll make sure it’s used on your records and throughout your care.
Patient Experience Team: Email- rcht.patientexperience@nhs.net Tel- 01872 252793
Care Opinion: https://www.careopinion.org.uk/
Kernow Maternity Voice Partnerships: Email info@kmvp.org.uk
Healthwatch Cornwall: Share your views | Healthwatch Cornwall
In writing:
Head of Midwifery
Maternity & Neonatal Services
Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust
Truro TR1 3LJ 01872 250000