Your first midwife appointment usually lasts about 1 hour. Appointments can take place in your home, or in your local GP surgery, hospital or children’s centre.

During the appointment we’ll ask you some questions to help us make sure you get the right care. We may also carry out some checks and tests such as urine and blood pressure checks.

We’ll also tell you about the other appointments you’re likely to be invited to and explain how each of them will work. You can also ask us questions and talk to us about anything that’s worrying you.

At this appointment, we’ll also talk to you about your maternity notes. You need to take these with you wherever you go in case you need medical attention. You can either have a printed copy of your maternity notes or you can download an app. The app allows you to be paper free and:

  • keep track of appointments
  • see your antenatal and postnatal information
  • document your pregnancy with photographs

During your pregnancy you'll be invited for: 

  • 10 pregnancy appointments to check the health and development of you and your baby (7 if you’ve had a child before)
  • routine checks and screening tests e.g. blood tests and ultrasound baby scans
  • antenatal care classes to help you prepare for your baby’s birth

Attending ultrasound appointments

The ultrasound deptartment have recently published new guidance regarding escorts for patients having an ultrasound scan.

Only 1 adult should be present with the patient and children under the age of 16 should not be present at all.

After your baby is born you'll be invited for: 

  • vaccinations for flu and whooping cough
  • postnatal care and clinics
  • breastfeeding support at home and weekly support groups

Delivery Suite, Labour ward, and Labor, Delivery, Recovery, and Postpartum Room (LDRP) visiting arrangements:

  • Birthing partner - 24 hours a day
  • Siblings of baby - between 3pm and 8pm accompanied by birthing partner only
  • General visiting - between 3pm and 4pm for 2 people (additional to the visitors above)

Antenatal and Postnatal visiting arrangements:

  • Birthing partner - between 10am and 8pm
  • Siblings of baby - 3pm and 8pm accompanied by birthing partner only
  • General Visiting - between 3pm and 4pm, then again between 6pm and 8pm for 2 people (additional to the visitors above)

We apologise if there is sometimes a delay in answering the door bell. Please be patient with us. We are looking after your family or may be dealing with an emergency.

Whether you have already made your booking appointment with your GP practice, or whether you still require a booking appointment with the midwife, we would like you to send over some details. This allows the midwives in your area to give you access to the Badger Notes App and book in your first appointment if not already booked.

Once the midwife has received your online referral, they will set you up with access to your maternity notes through the app/website and email you with further instructions on how to register with your email address and password.

The app will help you to keep track of appointments, track your pregnancy journey, see your antenatal and postnatal information and upload pictures of you, your bump and your baby to document your journey. Using the app means you will no longer need to carry around handheld paper notes, all your pregnancy information will be available on your phone with the tap of a few buttons!

Step 1

Please click on the name of the team closest to you in the list below.

This will open a form for you to complete and your community midwives will get back to you as soon as possible.

Step 2

In preparation for your midwife sending through your registration information, please download the 'Badger Notes' app on the Apple App Store or Google Play store. It should look like the icon below and is provided by Clevermed Ltd.

Badger Notes App.png

If you can't access the app, you can go to www.badgernotes.net

Step 3

For more information on how to use the Badger Notes app, please watch this short video: 

Skin to skin
 

Hand expressing
 

How do I know feeding is going well
 

Dad’s and partners
 

Positioning breastfeeding
 

Your newborn baby

Published in December 2020 the Ockenden report contained 7 Immediate and Essential Actions for all Trusts. As proud as we are of our service, we strive to always improve and provide quality care for the families of North, East and West Cumbria.

Immediate and Essential Action  What we did

1. Enhanced Safety

Trusts must work collaboratively to ensure serious incidents are investigated thoroughly and Trust Boards must have oversight of these cases.

All serious incidents are reviewed monthly by the Trust Board and quarterly by the Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS). We continue to focus on embedding learning and improvements in our service.

2. Listening to Women and Families

Women and Families must be listened to and their voices heard.

Continue our positive working relationship with the MVP. Exec and NED walk arounds continue to meet and talk to staff and families.

3. Staff Training and Working Together

Staff that work together must train together. Consultants must carry out twice daily ward rounds

Twice daily Consultant led ward round continue. Multidisciplinary skills training events are well established in our maternity service.

4. Managing Complex Pregnancy

There must be robust pathways in place for managing complex pregnancies.

A named Consultant for complex pregnancies is visible via the circle of care on our Badger Notes. This is regularly audited to assess compliance.

5. Risk Assessment throughout Pregnancy

Staff must ensure that women undergo a risk assessment at each contact throughout the pregnancy pathway.		 Assessment of Risk at each contact audited monthly since 2020, great compliance.

6. Monitoring Fetal Wellbeing

Appointment of a dedicated lead Midwife & Obstetrician with demonstrated expertise to focus on and champion best practice in fetal monitoring.

Appointed fetal monitoring lead Midwife and Consultant. They undertake and promote training, support staff and provide expert opinion for critical incidents.

7. Informed Consent

NCIC must have easily accessible information regarding pathways of maternity care.

All leaflets updated and available to women through the Badgernet App in line with their pregnancy journey. Work ongoing with MVP to highlight informed decision making for women.

Part 2 of the report contains 15 essential safety actions for: National Services; NHS Trusts; and Local Maternity systems to implement.

  1. Workforce Planning and Sustainability
    Financing a Safe Maternity workforce: A proportion of maternity budgets must be ring fenced for training in every maternity unit

  2. Safe Staffing
    A clear escalation policy and mitigation must be in place where staffing falls below minimum levels

  3. Escalation and Accountability
    Clear processes to ensure units are staffed appropriately at all time. Clear guidance for when a Consultant Obstetrician should attend

  4. Clinical Governance and Leadership
    Trust boards must have oversight of the quality and performance of their maternity services, the Director of Midwifery and the Clinical Director must be jointly accountable for the maternity governance systems

  5. Clinical Governance, Incident investigation and Complaints
    Incident investigations must be meaningful for families and lessons learnt and implemented in practice in a timely manner

  6. Learning from Maternal Deaths
    Nationally all maternal post-mortem examinations must be conducted by a pathologist expert in maternal physiology and pregnancy related pathologies. Joint case reviews with all specialities involved in a case of maternal death must take place.

  7. Multidisciplinary Training
    Staff who work together must train together. Staff should attend regular mandatory training. Rotas and job planning should ensure that all staff can attend. Clinicians must not work on labour ward without appropriate Cardiotocography (CTG) training and emergency skills training.

  8. Complex Antenatal Care – access to Preconceptual care
    Local Maternity Systems, Maternal Medicine Networks and trusts must ensure that women have access to pre-conception care. Trusts must provide services for women with multiple pregnancy in line with national guidance Trusts must follow national guidance for managing women with diabetes and hypertension in pregnancy

  9. Pre-Term Birth
    The LMNS, commissioners and trusts must work collaboratively to ensure systems are in place for the management of women at high risk of preterm birth. Trusts must implement NHS Saving Babies Lives Version 2 (2019)

  10. Labour and Birth
    Women who choose birth outside a hospital setting must receive accurate advice with regards to transfer times to an obstetric unit should this be necessary. Centralised CTG monitoring systems should be mandatory in obstetric units

  11. Obstetric Anaesthesia
    Anaesthesia follow-up, a pathway for outpatient postnatal anaesthetic follow-up must be available in every trust. Documentation of patient assessments and interactions by obstetric anaesthetists must improve. The determination of core datasets that must be recorded during every obstetric anaesthetic intervention would result in record-keeping that more accurately reflects events. Staffing shortages in obstetric  anaesthesia must be highlighted and updated guidance for the planning and provision of safe obstetric anaesthesia services throughout England must be developed

  12. Postnatal Care
    Trusts must ensure that women readmitted to a postnatal ward and all unwell postnatal women have timely consultant review. Postnatal wards must be adequately staffed at all times

  13. Bereavement Care
    Trusts must ensure that women who have suffered pregnancy loss have appropriate bereavement care services

  14. Neonatal Care
    There must be clear pathways of care for provision of neonatal care. This review endorses the recommendations from the Neonatal Critical Care Review (December 2019) to expand neonatal critical care, increase neonatal cot numbers, develop the workforce and enhance the experience of families. This work must now progress at pace.

  15. Supporting Families
    Care and consideration of the mental health and wellbeing of mothers, their partners and the family as a whole must be integral to all aspects of maternity service provision Maternity care providers must actively engage with the local community and those with lived experience, to deliver services that are informed by what women and their families say they need from their care​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Cumberland Infirmary, Virtual Tour

West Cumberland Hospital, Virtual Tour

Session 1
 

Session 2
 

Session 3
 

Cumberland Infirmary

  • Maternity Triage: 01228 814269
  • Delivery Suite: 01228 814266
  • Day Assessment Unit: 01228 814506
  • Antenatal Clinic /Women’s Outpatients: 01228 814245

Penrith Birth Centre

01768 245558

West Cumberland Hospital

  • Maternity triage: 01946 523213
  • Delivery Suite: 01946 523242
  • Day assessment unit: 01946 523213
  • Antenatal Clinic/ Women’s outpatients: 01946523231

Community midwives contact numbers:

  • Appleby: 01768 353719
  • Brampton: 016977 41365
  • Carlisle: 01228 814872
  • Cockermouth: 01900 705760
  • Copeland: 01946 523229
  • Keswick and Penrith: 01768 245558
  • Maryport: 01900 705033
  • Wigton: 016973 66609
  • Workington: 01900 705033

Advice and guidance for parents to support you during pregnancy, birth and postnatally. Covering everything from labour advice to practical tips for caring for newborns, the northern local maternity system website is a one-stop shop for all things related to your pregnancy journey.

Useful infomation:

Guide to maternity and neonatal independent senior advocacy