Wye Valley NHS Trust

Francis Martin, chair Frances Martin became chair of Wye Valley NHS Trust on 1 April 2026, following previous roles at the Trust as non executive director and deputy chair. Having originally trained as a mental health nurse, Frances has spent the majority of her career working in senior leadership roles in health and social care. With a lifelong commitment to enabling joined up, ‘personalised care’, her professional roles have included working in acute, ambulance, community and primary healthcare in operational, regulatory, commissioning and strategic roles. Two years as sales and operations director in a manufacturing company expanded her knowledge of the…

Reasons you may be offered an induction of labour  The following circumstances in pregnancy may result in an induction of labour being offered to you: Post-dates pregnancy Advanced maternal age (40 years of age or more) Suspected big baby Suspected small baby Diabetes Pre-eclampsia Reduced fetal movements IVF If your waters break before tightenings start Obstetric Cholestasis Skip to the factsheet that is relevant to you, so you can start to make a fully informed decision on whether you would like an induction of labour.  Post-dates pregnancy A term pregnancy is classed as anything between 37 and 42 weeks. The…

In December 2017, Wye Valley NHS Trust embarked on a fundraising appeal to improve the maternity bereavement facilities, services and aftercare support provided at Hereford County Hospital. A project group was formed to oversee the project. This included patient representatives to look at existing practices and procedures to ensure the new facility offered meets the needs of bereaved families and continually developed, reviewed and improved. The vision was set out in three stages. The first stage was to provide a separate counselling room (to be situated at the end of the second floor corridor) to allow families a separate space…

The Trust offers video consultations to some of our patients, as appropriate. The decision to offer this type of appointment will be made by a medical professional depending on your individual care needs. Video consultations are easy to use and are often more convenient for our patients. The Trust uses the MS Teams Bookings application for video consultations, which is a secure web-based platform for patients with pre-arranged video consultation appointments. The patient will receive a link either by email or text to join the MS Teams meeting and by clicking on the provided link on their mobile device or…

The human resources and organisational development directorate incorporates the following teams/departments: Recruitment The recruitment team provides a central recruitment service, processing all advertisements, applications and contracts of employment for the Trust and managing the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checking service. The team is based at Franklin Barnes Building in Hereford. Medical Recruitment The medical recruitment team provides a central recruitment service for all medical staffing appointments, which includes pre-employment checks for all medical and dental staff groups. The team is based at Franklin Barnes Building in Hereford. Temporary staffing The temporary staffing team provide a centralised service to the…

If you have forgotten or were not able to take your Biologic drug at the right time, take it as soon as you remember. Your next dose of biologic will need to be taken with the usual time gap between injections for your type of biologic. This will mean that the day of the week you normally take your drug will change. For example, if you take weekly Etanercept, and inject on Tuesdays. You might forget to take your weekly injection on a Tuesday, but then remember on Wednesday and take it then; you would then need to change your…

What you choose to put in your body really affects how you feel and how healthy you are. Eating the right sort of foods in the right amount is one of the most important things you can do for your overall health. Eating unhealthily can lead to obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or type 2 diabetes. These conditions can increase the risk of heart and circulatory problems. There are lots of resources available to support you to understand a healthy approach to food and how to get into good eating habits that will help look after your heart health.…

When you have diabetes, you’re more at risk of heart and circulatory disease. And poor circulation makes other diabetes complications worse-like problems with your eyes and feet. That’s why it’s even more important to take good care of your heart when you have diabetes. If you have high blood sugar levels for a period of time, even slightly high, your arteries can start to get damaged, and make them more likely to develop fatty deposits (atheroma). If atheroma builds up in your coronary arteries, this can lead to a heart attack. To help protect yourself, get your HbA1c, blood pressure…

Being physically inactive is when you don’t move your body for long periods of time. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and being overweight all increase the risk of heart and circulatory problems. Being physically active regularly helps reduce these conditions. Being active is anything that raises your heart rate, this can be activities like hanging the washing out, walking outdoors or sports. You should be able to hold a conversation while you are active. Regular activity doesn’t just protect your heart, it can help improve your general health and wellbeing. The amount of physical activity you can…

Once baby is born, the midwife (or you!) will bring baby up to your abdomen or chest depending on the length of baby’s cord. Baby will be gently dried whilst on you and a warm layer will be placed over the top of you and your baby. We aim to keep baby skin to skin with you for at least an hour or as long as you like. Skin to skin has many benefits to you and baby: Calming for both baby and mother Helps to regulate baby’s temperature Enhances the bonding process Helps to regulate baby’s breathing and heart…