Antenatal inpatients and induction of labour
Dacre Ward provides care for antenatal women who require admission during their pregnancy. In general the women who are admitted to the ward are greater than 20 weeks pregnant and will have had their anomaly scan. A complication in pregnancy will have meant that you need to become an inpatient for closer observation than attending clinic or DAU could provide.
Occasionally we care for women in the earlier stages of pregnancy (<20 weeks) or postnatal women and babies who are admitted to the ward.
We work closely with all the other wards within the maternity unit and have a multidisciplinary approach to the care we give.
The lead member of staff for Dacre Ward is:
Rebecca Merrifield – Ward manager
Dacre Ward is also the ward that you will be admitted to if you have not given birth to your baby and are overdue by 12 days. Please follow the link to the induction of labour leaflet as there are a few things you can try before we induce your labour. If your labour does need to be induced this does not exclude you from going to the maternity led unit (MLU) if you have had an uncomplicated pregnancy. You will however need to go to consultant led unit (CLU) if you need the drip (syntocinon infusion) to help you have contractions.
Induction of labour can take several days to achieve and there are occasions where we have to wait, especially if the maternity unit is experiencing a very busy period. We decide to wait to keep both you and your baby safe until we feel we can care for you appropriately.
You can find our induction of labour leaflet on the patient information leaflets page – just scroll down to the maternity section
Patient experience is very important to us and helps us continue to improve our service. If you are discharged from Dacre and are still pregnant please ask to fill in a family and friends questionnaire.
At present the members of staff who work on Dacre are Midwives, Student Midwives, Housekeeper, Obstetricians, Pharmacists, Ward Clerks and G4S cleaning contractor.
Please note: Space on the Dacre Ward is limited, so we encourage you to keep your belongings to a minimum and only bring essential items with you to the hospital. We also advise you to leave any valuables or excessive amounts of money at home as we do not have secure places available to lock away.
Visiting and the safety of the women and babies in our care
All visitors can get access to the ward by using the intercom system, which lets the staff team know who is trying to come on to the ward and why. Please ensure that your visitors only let people in that the staff are aware of – to prevent ‘tail gating’. We are here to protect the mothers and babies in our care, which is why we ask the name of those visitors presenting themselves to the ward.
You and your baby will be given identification labels – if any of these fall off or need replacing please let a member of know and we will replace them.
