A NEW fetal and maternal medicine unit opened to patients in Cambridge this week following 18 months of construction and many years in the planning.

The unit is on the first floor of the �30m Rosie Hospital expansion, and provides a dedicated space for new scanning equipment, five ultrasound rooms and a major treatment room. The original fetal medicine facility had only two fetal medicine ultrasound rooms and saw more than 3,000 women each year from the region.

The maternal assessment unit sees women with underlying health issues affecting their pregancy who may need increased monitoring; this will include women with high blood pressure, diabetes or reduced fetal movements.

Charlotte Patient, maternal medicine consultant, said: “We hope it will help to streamline the service, reduce waiting times and improve the patient’s experience and avoid the need for admission to hospital.”

The newly-expanded fetal medicine unit on the same floor diagnoses problems identified at the

ultrasound scan and recommends further tests including amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling, and offers treatment for women referred from hospitals within the region. Some of these include fetal anomalies such as heart malformations, cleft lip, intestinal and kidney problems, growth issues and problems with amniotic fluid. Staff work closely with other services ahead of the birth including the neonatal intensive care unit, clinical genetics, cleft surgery, paediatric surgery and orthopaedics.

The Jane Thornley Counselling Suite provides a dedicated space for clinicians to discuss with parents any difficulties concerning the baby or mother’s health and the management of these issues. Previously, they had to share space with the pregnancy ultrasound team.

Christoph Lees, fetal medicine consultant, said: “For the past 10 years, we have been running a rapidly expanding service with a national and international reputation for research and teaching out of just a handful of small rooms.

“With this new unit, however, we can now deliver an outstanding standard of care and a better experience for the nearly 4,000 women we see each year. Improved facilities will provide better training opportunities for doctors and help us

attract the best medical and midwifery staff.”

The expanded Rosie will help the Trust to meet current and predicted increase in maternity and neonatal service demand to 2021.

The Big Push for the Rosie campaign is aiming to raise �150,000 from the community; to date local people have raised nearly �100,000.

Trudy Harper, community fundraising manager at ACT, the charity for Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie, said: “We are so incredibly grateful to everyone that has bought a wristband, dropped some coins in a collection tin or organised a fundraising event. With the extension now open we’re pushing on with our appeal and hope that the people of Cambridge will continue to support our efforts and help us hit our target.”

To find out more about the Big Push for the Rosie, go to therosiecampaign.org.uk or call 01223 217757.