New era of maternity & children’s care born at The Royal Oldham Hospital

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The Royal Oldham Hospital’s new £44m Maternity Unit and specialist Neonatal Intensive Care Unit fully opened to patients today marking the beginning of a new era of women and children’s services for Oldham and Rochdale borough communities.

The women and children’s facility involves a major new purpose-built four storey building, new antenatal wards, new labour delivery rooms, obstetric theatres, a midwife-led birth centre, postnatal rooms, a children's unit and a brand new Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

The new facilities will benefit women, children and families from Oldham, Rochdale borough, Midddleton and surrounding areas. Approximately 5,300 babies are expected to be born per year at the new maternity unit. The facilities include new antenatal rooms and 14 labour rooms all with ensuite, and a postnatal ward with 29 beds.

The Royal Oldham Hospital will also now become one of three specialist regional neonatal centres providing the highest level of intensive care to the smallest and most vulnerable babies. The NICU consists of 37 cots with 9 intensive care, 9 high dependency and 19 special care cots.

The development represents the largest capital investment made to date by the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust which runs the hospital. The development is an integral and final part of the Making it Better programme to redesign and improve children’s, maternity and neonatal services across Greater Manchester.

Cathy Trinick, interim director of women and children’s services at The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Our new Women and Children’s Super Centre is a £44m development and will provide state-of-the-art facilities for the women of Oldham and Rochdale. It includes new services, new equipment and improved staffing to help ensure that treatment is delivered in a more modern and comfortable environment. It will help us provide the very best possible care for the women, children and their families who will use the unit.

“The first thing that the patients and families will find and experience is the new development is very welcoming, it’s warm, it’s very spacious, it’s very bright. It is a five star environment which can offer the best possible care for women and children which is exactly what they deserve.

“It’s been a real privilege to work with our local charity, the ‘In Your Hands’ Appeal which has raised a significant amount of monies along with support from MedEquip4Kids.”

Diane Chadderton, community midwifery matron at the Trust, said: “It’s an amazing facility. It’s beautiful to walk into. Women will feel as though they have much more space. The care that we deliver will be of a much better standard because we are in a much better standard of building which then promotes better care.”

Vivienne Twomey, inpatient midwifery matron at the Trust, added: “We have a new 24 hour triage contact number and unit open 24/7 for referrals from GPs, A&E or a community midwife. Women will be advised if they should go to the new labour ward or birth centre. All the furniture is new and hopefully gives a contemporary modern feel when they come here. In addition to the new equipment, we have a new Pennine Cuisine catering service where women can order food whenever they like and this can be a full meal or a range of menu options.”

Victoria Hall, lead obstetrician on the new labour ward, said: “The new building is a lovely environment. There is a lot of new equipment we have purchased ranging from low risk birthing balls, grab rails, monitors that allow a baby’s heart rate to be monitored when women are mobile to new beds, cots and equipment in our higher dependency rooms.”

Mr Sola Amu, clinical director and consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “This new development is the end of point of many decades of carefully thought through improvements of maternity, paediatric and neonatal services across Greater Manchester. With this development we will see significant improvements in the quality of care and facilities for women and children.”

More information is available on The Pennine Acute Trust’s at www.pat.nhs.uk. The Trust has also produced a short video showing the new facility which is available on YouTube. Expectant mothers should speak with their community midwife, doctor or nurse. Alternatively, they can call the Trust’s Maternity Care helpline on 0161 656 1757.