St Peter's Hospital invests in birthing beds
5:00am Wednesday 9th January 2013 in News By Laura Proto
Better births: Eight new beds are being introduced at St Peter's Hospital
To help women through sometimes long and stressful labours, St Peter’s Hospital has invested more than £50,000 in eight new birthing beds.
The labour ward invested in the beds, which can be set-up in several different ways to support women through labour, after ward manager Louise Emmett had seen the beds used in other trusts.
Ms Emmett said: “We know it’s important to keep women mobile during labour, it helps to move the baby through the birth canal and in turn speeds up the birthing process.
“But in order to keep moving and adopt different positions, women need to be physically well supported and comfortable.”
The ward’s old beds could only be tilted up or down, but now the top and bottom of the new beds can be split into two sections and arranged separately.
This means women can maintain more upright positions, such as sitting, kneeling and standing for longer, and this encourages natural birth.
Ms Emmett said: “The new beds are proving popular with staff and women alike as they are much easier to manoeuvre and keep women comfortable as they move around throughout labour.”
