Leeds is set to become home to the largest maternity unit in the UK.
As part of the development of two new hospitals on the Leeds General Infirmary site, there will be the capacity to deliver up to 10,500 babies every year and available care for mothers and their babies from across Yorkshire and the north of England. Keeping families together is a key benefit of the plan and will mean more staff are free to deliver clinical care for patients.
Currently, the teams need to transfer babies the 1.5 miles between sites when they need specialist care, separating families and using up staff time and resources. But now, the goal is for centralising services to bring specialist care and facilities under one roof – currently delivered across two sites at St James’s Hospital and Leeds General Infirmary.
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The new hospitals are currently being designed, with building expected to commence in 2024. The completion is planned between 2026 and 2028 as part of the Department’s New Hospitals Programme commitment to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030.
The new maternity centre will provide a brand-new purpose-built induction and labour suite, four brand new state-of-the-art theatre units, with one of those four theatres dedicated to planned Caesarean sections, a midwife-led unit, a consultant-led birth unit for higher-risk mothers, and two new large maternity wards with space for partners to stay.
Dr Kelly Cohen, Clinical Director for Women’s Services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said the new Maternity Centre would “overnight” provide a better experience for patients and staff. She said: "We will be able to provide integrated family care like we have never been able to do before, which is a key part of the new hospital design.
"Mums and dads will be able to look after their babies with the neo-natal teams there to support and help them. The new hospitals will also be a better place to work for staff, who currently travel between sites to deliver care in two separate hospitals.
Once the new hospital is built the extra capacity will provide a better experience by helping reduce delays, providing smoother patient pathways, and reducing the possibility of last-minute changes in plan which can be unsettling for patients and their families.
"It means that parents will be starting or growing their family life in their own private space which is great for infection control, but also means they can get to bond with their new baby in a private room with their own bathroom."
Monica Saikia, a solicitor from Scarcroft, Leeds was one of those expectant mothers who had to be transferred from St James' Hospital when she was admitted at 20 weeks and 23 weeks due to complications. As there were no neonatal intensive care cots available at Leeds General Infirmary she said it was a waiting game to see where she would be transferred to.
Monica said: "In the interim, all we could do was hope and pray that our daughter did not arrive until such time as we knew which hospital could accommodate her. Thankfully, a neonatal cot became available at LGI and Monica was transferred there.
"Despite it only being a short distance, I was nervous and my mind filled with questions - what if something goes wrong?" Monica’s daughter Ria, now a happy and thriving six-year-old, spent 103 days in hospital, eight weeks of which were in intensive care.
"What made a stressful situation bearable was not only Ria's determination but the truly amazing staff at the LGI and St James. Had it not been for the exceptionally knowledgeable, caring and dedicated doctors and nurses, our daughter would not be here today."
Monica added: “Eliminating the need to move between hospitals will no doubt be a welcomed move for all expectant mothers and I certainly would have preferred this. Having a child is a stressful situation and by having all services under one roof, it will inevitably reduce the level of anxiety for expectant mothers."
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