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Partners and support people now able to attend pregnancy scans

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will are now allowing one support person to join women coming for pregnancy ultrasound scans.

Like many maternity units, the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was required to make a number of changes to how they provided care to women during pregnancy, to keep both patients and staff members safe. This has included carrying out many appointments by telephone or video.  For scans, that need to be performed face to face, the rules had only allowed for the woman to attend the scan, with no partner or support person.

Now, as shielding guidance is changing, the hospital is now welcoming back one support person per appointment.

Ali Cuthbertson, Director of Midwifery at the Trust, said:

“We know how much it means to women to have their partners present and so we are really pleased that following changes in national guidance we are now able to welcome them back. In order to keep everyone safe, children will not be able to be present, and each woman will only be able to bring one person with her. I would also like to take this opportunity to remind women that if they have an urgent problem, you can speak to a midwife or doctor day or night at our Maternity Assessment Unit.”

The Hospital advises that they are running their usual high risk antenatal clinics in the Horton and at the John Radcliffe, and the ultrasound departments at both hospitals are also still running. In addition, midwives are still able to see women regularly in pregnancy including in Banbury, Chipping Norton, Wantage and Wallingford, as well as in Oxford.

Although antenatal classes are not running in person at present the Hospital’s midwifery teams are running childbirth and ‘Ask the Midwife’ sessions using Facebook live from their Oxfordshire Maternity Voices Partnership page.

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

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