Maternity services in Plymouth are based at Derriford Hospital, and are most easily accessed via the maternity entrance to the hospital.

The maternity unit consists of:

• Community midwifery service - covering Plymouth, South Hams (Ivybridge and Kingsbridge), West Devon (Tavistock) and East Cornwall. Community midwives are mostly based in Children's Centres and provide antenatal and postnatal care through children's centres, GPs surgeries and at homes. They provide care to women who choose homebirths, and run a telephone helpline between 9am and 10am every day (01752 763623).
  
• Antenatal Clinic - where women attend for pregnancy scans and screening, and also where care is planned and provided for women requiring specialist medical input during pregnancy.
  
• Day Assessment Ward - for specialist medical interventions during pregnancy (generally after referral by a GP or midwife).
  
• Central Delivery Suite (Labour Ward) - which has 12 individual delivery rooms, including one with a birthing pool.
  
• Maternity Theatres - 2 theatres for caesarean sections and emergency procedures, which are situated adjacent to the Labour Ward.
  
• Antenatal and Postnatal Ward (Argyll Ward) providing 27 beds which can be used flexibly for antenatal or postnatal care as required. The ward is staffed by fully qualified midwives and specially trained maternity care assistants.
  
• Transitional Care Ward (under the supervision of the Department of Neonatal Medicine) - for babies who need additional care, but are not so sick that they require intensive neonatal care. The midwives, nursery nurses and maternity care assistants are specially trained to be able to provide this level of care.

Derriford maternity unit has a delivery rate of 4700 per year.

Staffing - We have a team of 12 consultant obstetricians, 200 midwives and 50 support staff.

Click here to access the Pregnancy Planner on the NHS Choices website. This provides useful information that will complement the information provided by our midwives.