By Northern Lincolnshire and Goole maternity service ‘not in a position to change the policy’
Update following the publication on the 14th of December ‘‘Supporting pregnant women using maternity services during the coronavirus pandemic: Actions for NHS providers’.
Health chiefs were asked to undertake a risk assessment in each part of their maternity services to see where there could be an increased risk of transmitting coronavirus if a birthing partner is present and tackle any issues with “appropriate infection prevention and control measures” including training and PPE.
In a statement released from Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, the Trust expressed:
“We are sorry to say that we are not in a position to change the policy in place for maternity visiting at the maternity units in Grimsby and Scunthorpe at the moment, but as a maternity service we are working to review this”.
“As a trust, we will be undertaking risk assessments in each part of the service to identify areas where space prevents social distancing, increasing the chance of Covid-19 transmission if support people are present”.
“We are exploring implementing lateral flow testing to test women and their support people to enable them to specifically attend scan appointments, fetal medicine appointments and for parents whose babies require require neonatal care”.
“As a maternity service, we understand how important having support people present during the pregnancy journey is and we will complete this work and provide an update as soon as we can”.
