Feature
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Planned new maternity centre will be largest in the UK Our plans to create the UK’s largest single-site maternity centre as part of the development of two new hospitals on the Leeds General Infirmary site will revolutionise how we care for our patients. The centre, which will link the planned new Leeds Children’s Hospital and new hospital for adults, will have the capacity to deliver up to 10,500 babies a year and will provide care for mothers and their babies from across Yorkshire and the north of England. By centralising our services, we will also bring about safer care for mothers and their babies by providing specialist care and facilities under one roof. Currently, we need to transfer babies the 1.5 miles between St James’s Hospital and Leeds General Infirmary when they need specialist care, separating families and using up staff time and resources. Keeping families together is a key benefit of our plan and will mean more staff will be free to deliver clinical care for patients. 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. “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,” she said. “Mums and Dads will be able to look after their
babies with the neo-natal teams there to support and help them.” Many of the babies born in Leeds need specialist care after birth. Being linked so closely to the new Children’s Hospital ensures families receive seamless care from pregnancy, birth and into childhood and adulthood– all in the same place. The new hospitals will also be a better place to work for our 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. Every year, about 2,500 births in Leeds are by caesarean section – about half of these are emergencies - and one of the four new theatres will be dedicated for planned caesareans. This will help to reduce delays, anxiety and provide a better experience for families who will have their own designated waiting area and specialist teams to look after them. Caesarean section patients will also have their own enhanced recovery pathways, so patients will often be able to return home within 24 hours. For post-natal patients there will be spacious maternity wards, with all ensuite single rooms that will have space for partners to stay. Said Dr Cohen: “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.” The new hospitals, planned in a single building at Leeds General Infirmary, are currently being designed, with building expected to be commence in 2024 - with completion planned between 2026 and 2028 as part of the Department’s New Hospitals Programme commitment to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030.
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