The proposed new midwifery-led unit to the right of the main entrance to Antrim Area Hospital.
A planning application has been lodged with Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council for a £5.5m midwifery-led unit at Antrim Hospital.
The Northern Health and Social Care Trust is seeking permission for a three-suite facility planned within a new two-storey building at the front of the hospital.
The development of a three-suite unit at Antrim was a commitment made to the Northern Trust by the Permanent Secretary Peter May when he approved the recommendation of the Trust board to consolidate all hospital births at Antrim Area Hospital.
Site Location Plan, showing proposed building location in red with wider Antrim Area Hospital estate boundary in blue.
Existing site location where new unit will be built.
Funding is expected to be provided by the Department of Health.
A reconfiguration of maternity services, which came into effect in July 2023, saw all hospital births within the Northern Trust area move to Antrim Hospital and an end to births at Causeway Hospital, Coleraine.
Trust board members heard previously that the AMU (Alongside Midwifery Unit) will “offer women the choice of midwife-led care alongside the obstetric and consultant-led services which are already in place at Antrim’s maternity unit”.
A design and access statement submitted with the application to council planners says:
“The ground floor will comprise the Midwife-Led Unit (MLU) with three birthing rooms and associated support accommodation, while the upper level will provide a four-bed recovery area connected to the existing maternity departments, support accommodation, and enclosed building plant areas.
“While the hospital has a well-established maternity ward and supporting services such as obstetric theatres and a neo-natal intensive care unit, the increased patient numbers resulting from the review requires increased capacity at Antrim.
“It is the Trust’s aspirations to provide three additional birthing rooms in the form of a midwife-led unit, functioning separately from the main maternity ward but with all the support of the wider maternity services should the need be required.”
It is expected to be provided for women with pregnancies classed as “low risk”, without any additional medical complications. It is expected to be used by two to three patients per day, plus their accompanying birthing partner.
Proposed revised drop-off area to existing Direct Assessment Unit entrance.
The statement also noted:
“With a separate entrance and its own clinical support accommodation, each birthing room will be provided with their own birthing pools.
“The specific site to this application is on the north side of the existing building adjacent to the existing out-patients entrance, with existing drop-off area and bus turning head.
“The positioning significantly benefits from the immediate adjacency to the existing maternity services allowing easy and quick transfer of staff and patients should the need arise, including to theatres and neo-natal. With a dedicated entrance, the unit will utilise the drop-off which is to be partially revised as part of the works.
“Positioned slightly away from the existing building, the new structure will make minimal contact to the current building to minimise noise and vibration caused by any construction works.
“Throughout the works, the existing direct assessment unit (access to out-patient clinics) and MRI entrances will be maintained.
Proposed temporary bus turning route shown in blue in the car park of the former Emergency Department, now used as the Direct Assessment Unit (DAU).
“Upon entering the building via appropriate security control, expectant patients will be chaperoned straight into one of the awaiting three birthing rooms.
“We believe the modern, high-quality facility would meet the requirements for both the principle need for the development and the subsequent non-intrusive design aspects.”
Trust board members have been told previously that the planned facility is expected to be available at the end of 2025 or early in 2026.