Birth Centre Celebrates 10 years

Birth Centre celebrates 10 years and over 10,000 special deliveries

“Today has been the best experience, I couldn’t think of anywhere else I would want my daughter to be born” writes one woman who has used the Birth Centre at Birmingham Women’s Hospital, whilst “Wonderful, safe, happy” writes another. These are just a couple of comments from the thousands received over the last ten years and on the 5th February,  Birmingham Women’s Hospital celebrated a decade of caring, supporting women to achieve a normal birth and the delivery of 10,700 babies in its Birth Centre.

The Birth Centre at Birmingham Women’s was the first purpose built centre of its kind in the UK when it opened its doors to women in February 2004 and is one of the largest in the country.

Run by skilled and experienced midwives, the centre supports and empowers women to feel confident and able to achieve a normal birth. There are five en-suite rooms available for women to use which are comfortable and relaxing. Women are assisted to use different positions for labour and birth and aromatherapy is available. Water also assists women and many choose to give birth in the pool.

Paula Clarke, Consultant Midwife joined the Trust in 2004 to lead on the development of the Birth Centre. She explained, “Ten years ago, Birth Centres were very new in maternity services and there has been a lot of ‘paving the way’ for others coming after us”
Paula has continued to provide clinical leadership within the team and she commented “It has been a very rewarding journey in partnership with the midwives on the birth centre who are all passionate about supporting women. We are delighted to be celebrating our 10th Birthday. Supporting 10,700 births during the 10 years is a major achievement which makes us very proud”

At Birmingham Women’s Hospital, we look after over 8000 women a year to give birth and the Birth Centre remains a popular and additional choice for women.

Now over 2000 women receive care on the Birth Centre every year and although some women need to transfer to our delivery suite which adjoins the centre for additional help the majority of women stay in the Centre. Paula says: “For us as midwives it is really positive to know that year on year our figures show us that if a woman is ‘suitable ’for the Birth Centre she will have an 80% chance of achieving a normal birth (even if she needs to transfer) with only around a 6 in 100 needing to have a Caesarean section.
We have extended our ‘boundaries’ over the years for women we can now offer care for. We remain very dedicated to ensuring choice for women whilst also maximising safety”