Leeds hospitals’ maternity teams are welcoming new equipment as part of an investment of almost £2 million to improve services for families.
The new equipment includes five new fetal ultrasound machines, 14 neonatal resuscitaires, and five delivery suite beds, which are all either on site now or arriving over the next few months.
Building improvements include the refurbishment of the fetal medicine counselling room, a maternity antenatal counselling room, and two staff rooms in the maternity areas at Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s University Hospital, with further plans to renovate the bereavement counselling room and scan rooms.
The walls are being given a facelift and will feature new photographs of families from communities around Leeds. These will be installed from January onwards thanks to funding from Leeds Hospitals Charity, together with clearer signage.
In response to patient feedback, new doors are being installed on the postnatal ward bays, to help reduce noise and improve the environment for families and their new babies.
This followed walkarounds with patients which took place recently across wards and maternity areas at Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s, as part of the Trust’s commitment to ensuring perinatal services are informed by families’ experiences.
Service users and perinatal colleagues from the Leeds Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP) visited both hospitals to look at the accessibility and inclusivity of wards and departments. Insights from these visits are already shaping the next phase of improvements.
Improvements across neonatal services also continue at pace, including freshly painted areas to create more welcoming spaces for families, and the development of a new dedicated expressing room to support parents of babies receiving neonatal care at St James’s University Hospital.
The Trust’s gynaecology service, which includes the Early Pregnancy Unit, is also benefitting from almost £200,000 of new equipment including two dedicated ultrasound machines.
Craige Richardson, Director of Estates and Facilities at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “These improvements represent a major step forward in creating safe, modern and family-centred environments for families and our staff.
“I am incredibly proud of the collaborative effort across teams, and grateful for the dedication shown by colleagues in delivering such a wide range of enhancements at pace. The feedback from families is invaluable, and we will continue to invest in facilities that meet their needs and expectations.”
The investment in equipment, buildings and furniture is in addition to ongoing investment in staffing, which is seeing more than 50 newly qualified midwives starting work with the Trust between September 2025 and January 2026.
- Photo above shows, from left to right: Sarah Harrington, Matron, Rebecca Musgrave, Head of Midwifery, and Craige Richardson, Director of Estates and Facilities at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust