Exciting developments for our Maternity and Neonatal services

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Since November 2021, NHS North Central London Integrated Care Board (NCL ICB), has been leading a programme of work on behalf of the local health and care system in North Central London called the Start Well Programme to review and improve maternity, neonatal and children�s surgical services in North Central London � Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey, and Islington.

The Start Well programme has involved several years of partnership working and significant engagement with patients, staff and partners to review and improve the quality and outcomes of services. Our collective ambition as a health and care system is to give babies and children the best start in life and improve outcomes for Pregnant women, people, and families.

For Whittington Health, this means a major redevelopment of our maternity and neonatal estate. Over the coming years, we will bring our maternity and neonatal spaces up to modern healthcare standards.

Read on to find out more about how we will transform our maternity and neonatal services over the coming years...

What is happening?

Over the coming years, we will bring our maternity and neonatal spaces up to modern healthcare standards. This will transform the experience of those giving birth with us and the babies and families of those who need a specialist care in our Neonatal Intensive Care and Special Care Baby units.

Because the estate is so tight, the programme involves a complex sequence of enabling works, temporary moves and a new �infill� building between two existing wings. All of this is designed to keep services running safely throughout. Construction begins next financial year, and the full programme is due to complete by March 2030.

Some of the biggest improvements in the first phase of the works include:

Neonatal Unit upgrade

A larger, purpose-built NICU with safe spacing and a calmer environment
Co-locating NICU and SCBU away from construction noise
A better working environment for staff and an improved experience for families

Labour Ward refurbishment

All delivery rooms will become en-suite
A dedicated, fit-for-purpose bereavement suite offering privacy and dignity
Expanded and modernised clinical areas A brighter, more welcoming entrance
A new maternity main entrance with more space, more light and a much better first impression for families Improved triage
A redesigned, more easily accessible triage area located at the front of the hospital
More Ensuite Postnatal Inpatient Bedrooms.

Works are expected to start later in 2026.

What you can expect it to look like...

You can view the images below, or look at them in our Google Photos album by clicking here.

Protecting your birth experience during the works

Our top priority at all times is to ensure that everyone who gives birth with us has a positive experience and that they can give birth in line with their birth plan.

During the necessary works to transform our estate we will be prioritising the experience of those giving birth with us and will do everything we can to ensure that they are not impacted. We want everyone to have the birth they planned. Here are some of the steps we will be taking to minimise the impact on the works on those giving birth with us during the construction period:

Because of the very acute needs of our tiniest patients, one of the first phases of the work will be to construct the new, purpose built combined Neonatal Intensive Care and Special Care Baby unit which will be located well away from other, later works. Only once the new unit is complete the two units will move into their new home.
Phasing the redevelopment to minimise the amount of disruption at any one time.
Ensuring all departments can continue to run throughout the works.

Your midwife will discuss with you any expected impact of the works with you during your pregnancy and we will work with you to minimise any impacts as best we can.

If you have any questions or concerns you can speak to your midwife or click here to contact us.

Your positive birth experience is our number one priority.

Putting your views at the heart of our developments

We have been working closely with the independent Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership group at every stage of our planning to date. You can find out more about them and how you can get involved in the group by clicking here or if you prefer, you can follow them on Instagram by clicking here.

There will also be lots of opportunities for our maternity service users and our local community to find out more and get involved in planning the developments as we move along with the planning and works. Do keep checking back to this page and follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter/X to get updates.

We are really keen that alongside the changes to the physical environment we take the opportunity to implement best practice care models designed to respond to the findings from the North Central London Integrated Care Board Start Well Programme case for change. We also always want to improving equity, access and the experience of service users across maternity and neonatal services for all our residents. We will update this page with more details about how local people can get involved.

Key to this programme is responding to the views of service users and our communities about the specific needs of communities to improve outcomes.

How our buildings will change

Before:

After: