For Patients and Visitors
What is the Service?
The Northern Health Birth Suite is an intimate 9-bed unit that primarily cares for women in active labour. The large rooms are designed to ensure that women and their families feel relaxed and supported while being cared for in a safe environment. Rooms can be dimly lit, with access to in-built speakers, birth balls, bean bags and mats. This approach allows women to be active and mobile, enhancing comfort and the natural progression of labour and birth.
The Northern Hospital Birth Suite also has a room called “Ngay Nga-Anga (First Breath)”, decorated with Aboriginal art and designed as part of the Koori Maternity Service, dedicated to our Aboriginal community.
What can I expect from the service?
Northern Health has in place up-to-date, evidence based policies and procedures to ensure that mothers and babies receive safe and high quality care. Whilst in the Birth Suite mothers and babies are looked after by a multi-disciplinary team including obstetricians, paediatricians, anaesthetists and midwives.
Our highly skilled midwives provide advice, support and care from the antenatal period up until our families are settled at home. Most mothers will be able to have a midwife provide all labour and birth care, however if the pregnancy or labour is complex or high risk, our team of knowledgeable and practiced obstetricians and paediatricians are readily available. Our team work very closely with women, their partners and support persons; creating a sense of safety, trust and empowerment. Our family centred approach ensures that women and their families are actively involved in decision making.
Should a baby require further assistance, a Neonatal Unit is readily available.
All birth suites are equipped with state of the art fetal monitoring equipment, which also have wireless, water-proof capabilities. All midwives and doctors are regularly trained and assessed in fetal monitoring, supporting our highly skilled health professionals in providing current evidence based care.
There are many options for pain relief in the birthing suites, including nitrous oxide gas, pethidine, water injections, and epidural analgesia. A water immersion policy is currently being developed so that women can use a birth pool for relaxation and pain relief in labour. The midwives and doctors are available to assist and support you in your labour, and can discuss these options with you.
We invite you to take a tour of The Northern Hospital Birth Suite, where we provide individual, sensitive, and best practiced care to women, babies and families.
Contact us
(03) 8405 8213
- Locations offering this service
- Northern Hospital Epping
