Antenatal Services

Your named midwife is responsible for co-ordinating your care throughout your pregnancy and after the birth. You should see her at the majority, if not all, of your pregnancy appointments. Alongside your midwife, a small community team of midwives will care for you during your antenatal appointments and after the birth of your baby (or babies). Having a small team of midwives to care for you helps you to build a relationship with them, and there are huge benefits to having continuity of care throughout your journey. We can currently provide this to women booked under our Blossom, Poppy and homebirth teams and are expanding these teams to more women.

If you choose to birth your baby at home, you will have a high chance of having a midwife known to you to support you during your birth. 

We offer two models of care (sometimes called 'pathways') to women during their pregnancy:

• Midwifery-led care (MLC)
• Consultant-led care (CLC)

When you make your first appointment with your midwife, they will ask you questions about your health, for example, if you have been pregnant before, questions about your first pregnancy and birth.

We then complete a thorough assessment of your needs in pregnancy and decide if there are any potential risks to you and/or your baby. If we feel you will need to see an obstetrician (doctor) we will refer you for consultant-led care. If there are no issues that need further assessment, our midwives will care for you.

If we refer you for consultant-led care this does not mean you cannot have a midwifery-led birth; however, we may discuss your plan for the birth with our consultant midwives.

If our midwives are caring fro you and feel that you need to see a doctor for some reason, we will transfer you to consultant-led care.

For further information on our models of care please speak to your community midwife.

Community Midwives
Maternity Block
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
Craven Road
Reading
RG1 5LE