Maternity Refurbishment, Kettering

T.A.D. have been assisting the Trust with the delivery of improvements to the Maternity Care setting, with our Architects leading the refurbishment within the Rowan Ward and Rockingham Wing and our Authorising Engineers assisting in the commissioning of the new Maternity Theatres at the Hospital.  This work was just a part of the changes made in the department that is now being recognised as a National Awards finalist.

The improvements relate to a series of projects – funded by the Trust and through some national grants – that have taken place over the last year.

 These include: 

• A £4.4m Maternity Theatres project which includes two new state of the art theatres and a recovery area 


• A £200,000 upgrade of bathrooms and showers in Rockingham Wing - providing en-suite bathrooms in its labour suite and on Rowan Ward supported by funding from the Department of Health's Improving Maternity Care Settings Fund 


• A £200,000 secure maternity records system that is accessed by laptop computers by hospital and community midwives – with funding from the national Nursing Technology Fund.  


• £350,000 of associated improvement work and new equipment. This has been put in place across the maternity unit including new flooring, new workstations, and a new bedside call system throughout. A second water birthing pool has also been installed and is in use. 

Head of Midwifery and Nursing, Eilish Crowson, said:

“We are now putting the finishing touches to a year's worth of improvements to our maternity unit which have made a real difference to the care we provide. The most obvious one is the huge new state-of-the-art maternity theatres building which has been built in front of Rockingham Wing. Our two new theatres, recovery area and new anaesthetic and monitoring equipment, are a vast improvement on the smaller and less hi-tech theatres they replaced.”

“The refurbishment of our bathrooms, toilets, maternity ward, water birth suite, two-en-suite rooms in the delivery suite, and new bedside call system  are a major improvement and a real boost to families using the Wing with much more modern facilities and improved privacy. 

“We have also established a secure maternity records system that enables us to enter and update information on a mother's care throughout her stay in hospital, and at home, by the use of secure laptop computers.” 

Lead Theatre Nurse Louise Dye, who co-ordinated the theatre project, said:

“The new theatres will enable us to better support the 3,800 births and 2,000 gynaecological and obstetric theatre procedures we deliver each year. They have been completed to a very high standard and will enable us to improve the care experience for patients undergoing procedures.” 

Lead Midwives Polly Leigh and Mara Tonks have been involved in overseeing the improvements – which have caused a certain amount of disruption to normal working. Mara said:

“We are incredibly proud of the maternity and theatre teams who have worked through many changes over the last 12 months. The teams have maintained excellent high standards of care despite the disruption caused by the ongoing building works. Our teams are thrilled to have had this significant investment to support their services. It's already making a real difference both to the patient experience and to staff morale.”