Welcome to Phase 2 of our Crowdfunder campaign. We need your help to buy a birthing pool facility at the new Salford Birth Centre. We'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the £1400 we've already raised in Phase 1.
We're also introducing a new £5 reward celebrating the generosity of the people who donated towards the funding of the birth centre. Every person that contributes £5 or more will have their name, or the name of a loved one, recorded on a tribute wall within the Birth Centre. We will also be including the names of people who contributed in Phase 1 of the Crowdfunder on the tribute wall.
You can donate as little as £1. Your contribution will make an enormous difference helping to fund a birthing pool facility in one of the four birth suites at the centre. The council owns the building and, amongst other things, needs a new roof, a lot of TLC and specialist works to make it ready. This is why we need your help. We hope you will consider making a donation, however small or large, or fundraising to help us buy facilities for the new birth centre.
Keep babies born in Salford.
People born or brought up in Salford are proud of their roots. Time after time when we ask people what they value most in our city, they tell us it is the community and the unique character of our local people.
That’s why it’s important to us all that women who have low risk pregnancies continue to have the choice of giving birth in the city, and keep babies born in Salford. To do this we’re developing a new Salford Birth Centre to replace the existing birth centre at Salford Royal which is closing.
NHS England is supporting the new centre as part of a programme to widen quality choices available to women. The aim is to provide maternity services which are safe, personalised, kind, professional and family friendly.
The centre will provide a local facility for women who want a midwife-led birth and will also be a community resource with a range of other services for families.
About the new Salford Birth Centre based at Ingleside
The site of the new centre, currently known as Ingleside, is an important piece of Salford’s heritage. The building sits in the beautiful, calming backdrop of Oakwood Park. It is a fantastic setting for a birth centre and a building which the council owns and would love to find a community use for.
When refurbished, it will feature a full range of birthing suites with pools, modern equipment and family rooms on site.
The centre will be a community space for services such as antenatal and postnatal groups, breastfeeding support and perinatal mental health support.
Your questions about the Salford Birth Centre answered.
Who is the unit for?
Women from across Greater Manchester will be offered the choice to give birth at the new Salford Birth Centre from January 2018. The centre will handle low risk births, so could include women with no health conditions such as diabetes or heart conditions, no expected complications, women who do not require medical interventions such as an epidural or surgical interventions.
What else will be provided there?
We have community spaces which we hope to use for community activities such as exercise classes including yoga, hypno birthing, early years provision, breastfeeding support, antenatal and postnatal clinics, smoking cessation and perinatal mental health services. We will also be creative with the space and encourage the community to come up with ideas. There is also a school just behind the Birth Centre that we hope will become a community space for families too.
Why can’t the maternity unit stay where it is at Salford Royal Hospital?
The space in the hospital is required to expand a centre of excellence for neurology services, meaning that Salford will have the regional expertise for stroke and brain injury services.
Where will the midwives come from?
The midwives will be employed by Bolton NHS Foundation Trust. We will also be working with the local universities to train student midwives in the unit so they get to experience different models of care.
Why do we need your help to fund this project?
The Salford Clinical Commissioning Group was successful with partners in Bolton and Wigan in becoming a Pioneer Site for maternity provision. As a result of this, funds have been made available by NHS England to develop new ways of providing maternity services, meaning that women get more choice and a personalised approach to giving birth. However these funds only cover the provision of the service and not the building, building renovation or equipment required for the Birth Centre. Salford City Council agreed to support the development to make sure babies continue to be born in Salford. The building has been donated to the project and there is limited budget for the renovation and equipment required. That is why we need the help and support of local businesses and residents.
