Birthing services available locally

Hospitals in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent

The two local hospitals where you can give birth are Royal Stoke University Hospital and Queen’s Hospital, Burton. Each hospital offers two different types of maternity care:

Consultant-led care can be provided in a dedicated unit, or within the maternity department, by senior doctors with full medical support on hand. For example, epidurals (a pain-relief injection) can be given, and there are maternity theatres if additional support or surgery is required. Both hospitals have antenatal and postnatal wards.

Midwife-led care is a choice recommended only if you have a low-risk pregnancy. At Royal Stoke University Hospital, this is provided in a dedicated midwife-led unit. At Queen’s Hospital, Burton, it is provided in dedicated side rooms on the labour ward. If you do need medical help during birth, you can be moved quickly to the consultant area in the same hospital for specialist support.

While women can make their own choice about where to give birth, locally most babies are born in the consultant-led areas in these hospitals.

Hospitals outside Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent

Women also choose providers outside the county. In 2019/20, around 1 in 4 births for the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent population were in hospitals outside of our local area.

Home births

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the local trusts had to temporarily pause the home birth service. In the following years, staff shortages meant it wasn’t possible to get the service fully up and running again. However, the service has been restored, so women across our area can consider this choice.

Freestanding midwife-led birthing units (FMBUs)

FMBUs are designed to be more relaxing places to give birth with midwife-led care. They are recommended only for low-risk pregnancies. Freestanding means they are not within a larger hospital with a consultant-led unit and access to additional medical support, such as anaesthetics. This makes them different from the midwife-led units at Royal Stoke University Hospital and Queen’s Hospital, Burton.

Our local FMBUs are at County Hospital, Stafford (run by University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Foundation Trust) and Samuel Johnson Community Hospital, Lichfield (run by University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust).

As explained on the consultation page, the birthing services there have been temporarily closed since March 2020. We are now running a public consultation about a proposal to make the closure permanent – although the units will still provide antenatal and postnatal care.

Get involved

Visit our involvement page for links to the survey, event details, and to download the consultation document.