We want to make sure that every woman and their family has access to safe, high quality maternity care; giving babies the best possible start in life.
Whether you choose to give birth to your baby at home, in a midwifery-led birth unit, or in an obstetric delivery suite you should discuss your options with your midwife. In Gloucestershire, maternity services are provided by Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Healthy Lifestyles Gloucestershire can provide advice and support with things like exercise, eating and stopping smoking during pregnancy.
Mental health during pregnancy
For information about support with mental health during and immediately after pregnancy, see the mental health page here.
Health Visiting
Health visitors are registered nurses or midwives who support families with young children. In Gloucestershire, Health Visiting services are provided by Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust.
Get involved in improving local maternity services
Gloucestershire Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership is a group of local parent representatives and health professionals which advises the NHS in Gloucestershire on the care provided to women, their partners and their babies, during pregnancy, birth and during the early days after the baby’s arrival. Find out more here.
More information
- Gloucestershire Maternity Voices website
- Gloucestershire Maternity Voices on Facebook
- Pregnancy and baby on the NHS website
- Start 4 life – sign up for weekly newsletters
Gloucestershire Local Maternity and Neonatal System
Equity and Equality Action Plan
In September 2021, NHS England published guidance for local maternity and neonatal systems around improving equity and equality.
The aims of the guidance were to:
- Understand the local population – its health outcomes and community assets
- Understand staff experience, using Workforce Race Equality Scheme data
In response to the guidance, we carried out a health needs analysis based on data from the local population. We identified risk groups and the factors that define these risks. We also looked at responses to the Staff Survey to understand experiences of staff around race equality.
The next step is to use this understanding to:
- Engage with women, communities and staff in the priority areas to find out what matters to them
- Co-produce interventions to improve equity for women and babies
- Co-produce an action plan to improve race equality for staff.
These interventions and actions will form a five year plan which will aim to reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes and equity for staff, women and babies in Gloucestershire.