30 April 2020

Amanda Lovett, 27 from Shrewsbury, has become the first woman to give birth at the new, purpose-built Wrekin Midwife-Led Unit (MLU) at the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford, part of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. The unit replaces its predecessor that was 30 years old.

Amanda gave birth to a baby girl, who hasn’t yet been named, weighing 6lb 4oz, on Tuesday evening.

Amanda said, “It’s amazing to say our little girl was the first person to be born at the new MLU, it’s quite an achievement for her.

“I am grateful for the care given to me by all the midwives, they oozed positivity, were really attentive and went above and beyond to look after me.

“The new MLU is really spacious and has a really homely environment. There are so many facilities and options to give birth in different ways. My room had Bluetooth and coloured lighting so I played Ed Sheeran and danced around to get the baby to hurry up! I also used the water bath, which was amazing.

“Thank you to all the midwives who looked after us so well.”

SaTH’s new Wrekin Midwife-Led Unit has been designed to provide the best possible antenatal, labour and postnatal experience for women with low risk pregnancies who have not experienced any complications. It also gives a modern and functional working environment for midwives.

The modular unit consists of:

  • Three spacious en-suite birthing rooms, each with a pull-down double bed to enable partners to rest, two of which also have a birthing pool
  • Thoughtfully designed outpatient facilities with five consultation rooms
  • A new location, next to the Obstetric Unit, providing an appealing facility for mums wanting a midwife-led birthing experience, while enabling closer access to the consultant-led unit should it be required
  • Space for specialist midwives to work from, including for screening and infant feeding.

The new unit was made possible after £4million of capital funding was secured from the Department of Health and was designed with the leadership team from the Women and Children’s Care Group at SaTH, along with the Maternity Voices Partnership who assisted with design features and equipment choice from a service user perspective. It was provided by a specialist company that has worked with NHS organisations across the country.

Along with the opening of the replacement MLU, homebirths in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin have also been reintroduced after being temporarily suspended at the start of the Coronavirus outbreak.

Nicola Wenlock, Director of Midwifery at SaTH, said: “We are delighted to have had our first birth in our new Wrekin MLU and would like to say congratulations to Amanda Lovett, and her husband Karl.

“The unit has state-of-the-art facilities, looks fantastic and our midwifery staff are delighted to be working in a purpose built environment.

“While expectant mums may be feeling anxious about their care during the COVID-19 outbreak, we remain committed to providing the very best care for them, and it’s great to be able to do that from our brand new MLU.”

Louise Barnett, Chief Executive of SaTH, said: “How fantastic it is to welcome the first baby to our new MLU, congratulations to Amanda and Karl.

“Staff in our Maternity Services are working hard to provide the safest possible experience for expectant and new mums, and they are continuing to build on the improvements and examples of kind and compassionate care that were recognised by the Care Quality Commission in their most recent inspection.

ENDS