Central Delivery Suite - Southmead Hospital Bristol

Choosing Where to Have Your Baby

Central Delivery Suite, Southmead Hospital, Southmead Road, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol BS10 5NB

The Central Delivery Suite, Southmead Hospital, is a consultant-led unit. If you have a medical condition, have experienced problems in a previous pregnancy or if complications arise during this pregnancy, you will be advised to have your baby in a consultant-led unit.

The Central Delivery Suite team includes:

• Midwives, student midwives and maternity care assistants
• Obstetricians
• Neonatologists (doctors for your baby)
• Anaesthetists.
• Housekeepers

The unit has two operating theatres and obstetric high dependency care can be provided within Central Delivery Suite.

Facilities at Central Delivery Suite:

• Ten birth rooms, most of which have an en-suite shower. This room can be changed to suit your needs. The bed can be moved away from the centre of the room. We have birthing mats and balls to facilitate making the environment suitable for your requirements
• A pool room for women who choose to labour /birth in water
• Additional bathrooms
• A kitchen is available for your use with tea and coffee making facilities
• Free WiFi
• Free car parking for all women, and their partners, in active labour. (Further details below).

Throughout labour the midwife will encourage, support and guide you, encouraging you to feel in control. We support your partners involvement at all times, and value their presence. You can have two birthing partners with you if you choose although, only one partner is permitted into theatre or recovery. We do not have waiting space for other visitors.

What pain management options are available?

• Aromatherapy
• TENS
• Birth pool
• Entonox (gas & air)
• Pethidine
• Patient controlled epidural analgesia

What happens after the birth?

After the birth, we encourage a calm, quiet and gentle time for you and your partner, we recommend skin to skin contact with your baby and will support you with feeding. One partner can stay with you. If everything has been straightforward with your birth and your baby is feeding well, the midwives will try to ensure that you can go home after six hours. You will be transferred to one of the postnatal wards after birth. If admitted to the ward please ask your birth partner to take home items you no longer require, so that all your belongings fit into the bedside locker and on the shelves of the cot provided on the postnatal wards.

Please use the main maternity reception to enter and exit our Maternity Services at Southmead, including AAU and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

• Upon arrival, you will be asked to sign in and given a lanyard.
• If you are a visitor, we kindly request you wear your lanyard at all times.
• Please keep noise in this area, and within the wards, to a minimum.
• When leaving, please ensure you sign yourself out and return your lanyard.

However, please use the Central Delivery Suite entrance if:

• You are in labour and are planning on birthing at either Mendip Birth Centre or the Central Delivery Suite. If your birth partner needs to move the car, get bags etc. after your arrival, they will be allowed out of this door for that purpose.
• You are having scans on the Central Delivery Suite including fetal medicine scans.
• You are having treatment on CDS including ECVs.

Entry and exit from any other route is not permitted without speaking to a member of staff. We appreciate your co-operation.

How do I get free car parking?

How it works:

• The details of the car and the surname of the woman in labour will be taken by the receptionist
• A form will need to be completed and submitted to the parking office
• The car must be parked in the car park near the Central Delivery Suite entrance to qualify for free parking
• Only one registration per couple i.e. the partner’s car or a nominated car if the partner does not have one.

Central Delivery Suite Tours

You can currently take virtual tours of our wards on our website. More information regarding face-to-face tours coming soon.  

For more information for you and your partner on planning where to give birth visit www.nhs.uk