Liverpool Women’s Hospital has been selected to be one of three Maternal Medicine Centres (MMC) within the North West Maternal Medicine Network along with St Mary’s Hospital Saint Mary’s Hospital (Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust) and Royal Preston Hospital (Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust). Liverpool Women’s vision as a MMC is to facilitate safer outcomes and better birth experiences for mothers and babies with medical conditions.
The Maternal Medicine Centres will provide a regional service including pre-pregnancy, antenatal and postnatal care for women who have either pre-existing significant medical problems or medical problems arising in or shortly after pregnancy. The MMCs will also provide advice and care for the most complex and highest risk women including those with respiratory, haematological, renal and cardiac problems and women diagnosed with cancer.
The majority of women with complications during pregnancy will continue to be managed by their local maternity team, however according to individual need, some women may receive a proportion of their care under the MMC. For some, a single visit or communication with the MMC will suffice. For the highest risk and most complex women, it may be that the majority of their care will be delivered by the MMC.
This model of care ensures that investigations and management plans are carried out by an experienced Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) comprising of obstetric physicians, specialist physicians, obstetricians, anaesthetists and midwives who have expertise in a range of medical conditions, ensuring all women receive timely specialist care and advice before, during, and after their pregnancy.
The MMC will host a specialist MDT meeting, which will provide advice and care for high risk and complex women, along with system-wide leadership and education. The MDT will include obstetricians and physicians from the MMC and from across the region, a specialist obstetric anaesthetist, a fetal maternal medicine consultant, a neonatologist and specialist midwives.
The referral link below should be used by physicians (General Practitioners and Specialist Doctors) and Obstetricians within Cheshire and Merseyside to refer patients into the MMC:
https://tinyurl.com/LWHMatMedReferral
For patients booked at LWH they will continue to be referred by their midwives to the specialist teams as per the normal referral pathways.
For some women an appointment (either face to face or virtually) will be arranged at one of the joint specialist clinics. The Woman will be contacted by the LWH maternal medicine team and informed of their appointment. For others, the woman’s case will be discussed at the MMC MDT, which will also be attended by their local parent team. For the highest risk and most complex women, it may be that all care will be recommended to be delivered within the MMC. In these instances, following MDT discussion, the patient will be contacted, and a booking appointment and specialist clinic appointment will be arranged at LWH.
Contact Details
Maternal Medicine Centre queries please contact:
Kelly Highton (LWH MMC MDT co-ordinator)
Tel: 0151 708 9988 Ext 4271
Email: kelly.highton@lwh.nhs.uk