Trust Board Febuary 2010 - Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals

SWBTB (2/10) 035 (a)
• Satisfied parent “City Hospital to me is the best hospital to have a baby. I have given all two
of my children there and the service is excellent.”
• Good service in sad circumstances - “Having recently had a stillborn baby at 40+ weeks, I still
highly rate City Hospital despite our tragic circumstances. We were given so much support,
especially from our community and bereavement midwives, that it really made a difference
during such a difficult time. I couldn't rate City more highly and will always be appreciative of
the care that we were given and continue to be given. If I have another baby I wouldn't want
to have it anywhere else as I feel I know the hospital well and highly rate the staff.”
• Ease of access – “City Hospital is much quicker for me to get to - I live in Smethwick and City
Hospital is much easier.”
Focus group and questionnaire comments against both options 1 and 2 centre on the fact that
both these options do not provide women with the opportunity to give birth in Sandwell.
Comments made about either of these options tended to focus on the issues already identified
in the key themes. Some women commented that while they liked the idea of a Midwife-Led
Birth Centre it wasn’t suitable for them as one person commented “Birth Centre sounds good,
but wouldn’t be suitable for me so I have chosen option 2.”
3.2.3 Option 3
Many of the focus group and questionnaire comments made about this option focussed on
issues already identified in the key themes.
The key issues that were identified as specific to this option are:
• People ‘liked the sound’ of a Midwife-Led Birth Centre, but wanted to know more about
it.
• Views were mixed about whether people would prefer a stand alone Midwife-Led Birth
Centre or a co-located one. However, of the people who answered the choices for giving
birth question (on the questionnaire), more people preferred the idea of a co-located
unit. (For more information see section 4 on page 17)
• People would like to see any community-based stand alone Midwife-Led Birth Centre
built “on a good bus route.”
• Some people really liked the idea that a Birth Centre would be more homely and felt
that such a facility would be able offer more one to one attention and help.
• Others wanted to know more about the arrangements for transferring emergencies
between the community-based Midwife-Led Birth Centre and a main hospital site.
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