Birth centres

midwife and birthing pool

The above picture shows a birthing pool at the Royal Derby Hospital Birth Centre.

*Please note: Our birth centre at Samuel Johnson Community Hospital is temporarily closed.

About the Birth Centre

Derby Birth Centre is a midwife-led unit within Royal Derby Hospital's Labour Ward.

It has four en suite rooms - one of which is a water birth room. 

It offers a ‘home from home’ experience for birthing people who wish to have the comforts of a home birth, with the added reassurance of being in a hospital. The comfortable, home‑like space can help your body work well during labour and makes it easier for you to rest and bond with your baby afterwards.

We have specialist equipment, such as beans bags, mattresses, birthing balls, peanut balls, birthing stools, and a birthing pool. All rooms have space to move around into different positions during labour, calm low lighting, speakers to play music of your choice, and soft furnishings, such as foam matts and beanbags, complete with a swinging crib ready for the new arrival.

Research from the Birthplace in England Research Programme (2011) > shows that:

  • giving birth for 'low risk' women is generally very safe.

  • there were no significant differences in perinatal outcomes (the period from becoming pregnant up to one year after giving birth) for planned births in midwifery-led units, compared with planned births in an obstetric unit (consultant-led).

  • women who had a planned birth in a midwifery-led unit had significantly fewer interventions, including substantially fewer caesarean sections, and more ‘normal births’, than women who had planned births in an obstetric unit (consultant-led).


Location

Derby Birth Centre, Labour Ward
Maternity Unit, Level 1 
Royal Derby Hospital
Uttoxeter Road
Derby
DE22 8NE

Best car park for patients: Car 6
Best entrance(s) for patients: Entrance 21

Getting to Royal Derby Hospital >

Telephone:  01332 789 790


Pain relief

It can help to learn about the pain relief options available to you during labour >.

  • Aromatherapy
  • Paracetamol
  • Oramorph (liquid oral morphine)
  • Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) machines (small devices used for drug free pain relief)
  • Birthing pool
  • Gas and air
  • Pethidine (strong opioid used for short term pain)


For an epidural, you will need to transfer to the Labour Ward.


Visiting times

We encourage up to two birthing partners at the Birth Centre. Children are not usually allowed, except siblings of the new arrival. Other visiting is dependant on the situation. 


Tours

If you would like to see the Birth Centre for yourself to help you prepare for your birth, you are welcome to join us for a tour.

Birth Centre tours are on the last Wednesday and Saturday of every month. To join us, send us an email at uhdb.derbybirthcentre@nhs.net with your name, hospital number, due date, contact number, and whether you have any special requirements so we can organise it for you.