When pregnant women attend the Delivery Suite they will initially be advised to attend the unit on their own and their birth partner will be invited in when active labour has been confirmed.
Once the birth has taken place, birth partners can remain on the Delivery suite until mother and baby are transferred to the Maternity ward, if they are not suitable to have an early transfer home: which will be facilitated as far as possible.
There is no specific time limit on this and will be dependent on clinical circumstances, but the utmost consideration will be given for allowing partners to stay to have those precious first hours with their partner and new-born infant.
Any birth partner will need to conform to the standard Trust guidance of:
- Wearing a mask
- Having their temperature checked on attendance, if this is above 37.8 they will be asked to leave the site
- Keeping movement in and out of the Delivery Suite to an absolute minimum and ideally not to leave the area at all
- Respecting the two metre social distancing where possible
- If they have any symptoms of COVID-19, or have been self-isolating, they must not attend the site at all.
The Maternity service has supported visiting for birth partners throughout the pandemic however the current surge that is being experienced and the need to reduce the risk to mothers, babies and staff in order to keep them safe has led to this unprecedented decision, which will be rescinded as soon as it is safe to do so.