Maternity boss at Northampton General Hospital explains why birth partner restrictions at scans remain in place

Nationally, as lockdown rules have eased and changed more and more expectant parents have become frustrated by the restrictions on maternity visiting, specifically as birth partners are not able to be by the expectant mum’s side every step of the way.

Growing frustrations have led to campaign group called Pregnant then Screwed speaking out after founders heard from expectant mothers about the anxiety caused by not having their birth partner with them, particularly at scans.

The group wants all hospitals - including Northampton General Hospital - across the country to completely lift the restrictions on all maternity services.

At the Cliftonville hospital, a ban on birthing partners attending scans remains in place, but birthing partners have been allowed in during labour and limited visiting on maternity wards has been allowed throughout the pandemic.

A spokeswoman for Pregnant then Screwed said: “We have case studies of women who have learnt of miscarriages in scans when they are entirely alone and women who have trauma from previous miscarriages whose only way to get through this is to have their partner or someone they trust there.

“Most people live with their birth partners so it makes no sense as there is no extra worry around infection. Ultimately they have the same germs.

“We are creating a long term problem for ourselves, but the solution is so simple.”

Locally the main concerns of the campaign group is about birth partners not being able to attend scans.

In response to these concerns, Sheran Oke, director of nursing, maternity and patient services at Northampton General Hospital said: “The rooms are not big and we have to be careful about protecting mothers, babies and my staff.

“We have to maintain a social distance as much as we can and we would have to between staff and birth partners too.

“The scans are done in our imaging department and we have other patients that have to use these facilities so we have to minimise the risk to them too.”

However, the maternity team has been working to put the correct measures in place to allow birth partners to attend a scan.

Sheran added: “We have done some work to look at the facilities and have talked to our teams after listening to our community.

“Perspex screens will be put up so birth partners can be present when the scan is taking place.

“We have asked for these to be put in place so we are working through the practicalities of that now.”

Initially, the restrictions will be lifted on the 20-weeks scans, but Sheran says arrangements will always be made for a birth partner to attend a 12-week scan if there are health concerns.

“We spoke to mums and my staff. It is the more meaningful scan for mothers so therefore that was felt to be the appropriate one to ask them to attend,” she continued.

“If there is any indication that there is going to be bad news or if there are concerns, we will make arrangements for birth partners or someone else to be present at that time.

“We have a duty of care to look after our mums and babies as best we can and we would not expect a member of staff to break bad news to a while the mum is by herself.

“Where they have had problems previously, we would always bring the birth partner in.”

Although the main local concerns for Pregnant then Screwed locally surround scans, the group is campaigning nationally for all restrictions to be lifted on maternity services.

The spokeswoman for the group added: “We are asking trusts to lift the restrictions. The power is in their hands.

“We are doing this because pregnancy is not straight forward.

“It is not a luxury to have a birth partner. It’s about having someone who can keep you emotionally safe.”

In response to pleas for all the restrictions to be lifted, Sheran says it would not be in the ‘best interest’ for patients and staff.

“We have national guidance and local policies that we implement for the safety of our patients and our staff,” Sheran added.

“We keep a close picture of public health nationally so we know what best practice needs to be and we know if we need to make changes.

“We would not want to do anything that would put our patients or staff at risk and lifting restrictions would not be in the best interest.”

The maternity boss was also keen to thank the community for supporting the trust throughout the pandemic, whether that was via fundraising or writing letters to give out on wards, which has helped to make her and her team’s job ‘much easier.'

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