Maternity services across Hertfordshire are set to be reviewed, to ensure new mums get the best service away from major hospitals.
While Watford General Hospital, in Vicarage Road, has both a midwife-led birth unit and a consultant-led service, the county's primary care trusts will investigate whether they can offer women a choice about where they have their babies.
One proposal to be considered is the reopening of a birth unit at Hemel Hempstead Hospital, which could offer a midwife-led unit for low risk births. High risk births would still be performed at Watford General.
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Provision of home births, and post and ante-natal care will also be discussed. The review will be led by Allan Templeton, Professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Aberdeen, and Angela Canning, who is currently head of midwifery services at Princess Royal Hospital in Bromley.
Anne Walker, chief executive of Hertfordshire's PCTs said: "Our priority is to make sure that the NHS in Hertfordshire provides safe and sustainable care for the majority of mums who will have a normal birth and for those who may need the more specialist support that is available from consultants at an acute site.
"This review will give us a detailed view of how we should move forward with maternity provision outside of hospital. What may be the best for one area may not be the right solution for another."
The review will begin in May. A report will be published in September.
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