Maternity (Obstetrics)

Are you pregnant or looking to have a baby? Our team of friendly, highly trained and approachable consultants, midwives and maternity care assistants are on hand to provide high quality levels of care in a modern, homely and relaxing environment.

Maternity Services – Visiting

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has now relaxed visiting restrictions in maternity services.

Two birthing partners per woman/birthing person are welcomed on our delivery suites and Midwifery Led Birthing Units (MLBU).

One partner can accompany a pregnant woman/person for the entirety of their antenatal appointments.

Visiting restrictions on our triage, antenatal and postnatal wards across both our maternity units (Bedford and the Luton and Dunstable Hospitals) are also relaxed.

Visiting slots are as follows:

• 9am to 9pm – one birth partner or other adult support person only
• 3pm to 8pm – two adult visitors per woman/birthing person (this includes the birth partner and one other) as well as siblings
• Siblings of the newborn are welcome between 3pm to 8pm, if accompanied by a responsible adult (not the mother)

Overnight visiting

We appreciate that for many of you, having the opportunity to have a partner / companion with you throughout the night to provide practical support with the baby is a source of comfort and provides the family a chance to bond.

From 1 August, we will be welcoming one birth partner per woman / person to stay overnight at our maternity units.

This includes:

• Orchard Ward, Bedford Hospital
• Ward 32, L&D
• Ward 33, L&D

Bedfordshire Hospitals recognises that not all women / birthing people choose to have their birth partner stay with them overnight, for a variety of reasons. For the comfort of all parties, we will aim to provide a bay where there will be no partners staying overnight.

If you are staying overnight, you will need to agree to the conditions which will be shared with you on the ward.

Please note that parking overnight in the hospital grounds is not free. Normal parking charges apply when you are here. We would advise that you park your car outside the hospital in nearby parking spaces/meters if staying overnight. Please ask you midwife for longer stay permits.

This is applicable to both Bedford Hospital and the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital maternity units.

Birthing partners are generally not required to wear facemasks unless this is their personal preference.

We have to be extremely careful about our visiting restrictions, especially when there are higher incidences of infection cases locally. As such, it is important to note that the relaxing of restrictions could change at short notice if it becomes unsafe to continue. We do still need to be mindful that coronavirus is still with us and there are precautions that we still need to adhere to, to not only protect patients but to also protect our staff, keep them well so they can continue to provide safe and essential quality patient care.

For further information on changes due to COVID-19 please visit the maternity COVID-19 webpages.