Why is a new maternity centre needed?

OUH continues to invest in ventilation, fire safety and other critical infrastructure (£8 million recently announced), but these works cannot overcome the fundamental limitations of the building. 

• The building was designed in 1972 for 5000 births a year, it now supports 40% more than that.  
• Maternity care is also considerably more complex, with 40% of births delivered by c-section, with greater demands on theatres, recovery facilities and high dependency care.  
• Modern facilities are designed with greater provision of single occupancy rooms, en-suite facilities, dedicated space for families, and improved links between maternity, neonatal and theatre services. OUH doesn’t have that.  
• Significant investment continues to be required to keep the Women’s Centre safe and operational, but however much investment is made, the fundamental limitations remain.  

What is being proposed 

• A new purpose-built maternity and neonatal centre would provide the capacity, clinical infrastructure and family-centred environment needed to protect privacy and dignity, support safer care and meet future demand.  
• Early estimates indicate that this would require investment of around £120 million, which cannot be met through local NHS capital budgets alone and will require national support. 
• Capital funding should be provided. Baroness Amos said Oxford was the “worst building”. Let’s start right here.  

Context – Inquiry 

• There is much other work that can and is being done to improve the culture particularly of listening to concerns of patients and staff.   
• The Trust has already implemented several improvements including  
• Recruiting 33 additional midwives since April. 
• Expanded resident doctor staffing. 
• Specialist expertise in birth trauma and perinatal mental health by providing a comprehensive pathway of support – the Birth Trauma Pathway and Birth Reflections Service. 
• Amos said “we met staff who were committed to their jobs and wanted to provide women and families with the best care they could. This was against a backdrop of daily challenges that staff were facing, including a lack of midwifery and medical staffing, and delivering care in estates that were not fit for purpose.” 
• The Care Quality Commission also said that the Maternity Building is no longer large enough for current demand.