Herefordshire Tuberculosis Service

When you have your pregnancy booking appointment your midwife will ask to take some blood samples, one of these will be to find out your blood group.  It will determine whether you are a positive or negative blood group.  If it is found that you have a negative blood group you will be offered Anti-D at different points in your pregnancy.  Anti D is derived from plasma collected from donors, it is a concentrated form of antibodies. A new test is now offered to all women who are Rhesus Negative at 16 weeks gestation.  The blood test will determine whether…

An instrumental birth refers to the use of either forceps or ventouse (suction cup). An instrumental birth happens for 1 in every 8 births.   Forceps are metal instruments which fit together around your baby’s head to speed up the process of baby being born during the pushing phase.  The doctor will pull the forceps as you also push down during a contraction. Ventouse is a suction cup which is placed on baby’s head firmly and also pulled by the doctor while you push.   The choice of instrument will depend on the situation, how many weeks pregnant you are…

Pre-eclampsia usually isn’t diagnosed until at least 20 weeks of pregnancy, but it actually starts early on.  If the blood vessels in your placenta don’t embed properly into your womb, it means the blood flow from the placenta to baby isn’t as optimal as usual.  Your body tries to compensate for this by tightening all the blood vessels in your body, in order to send more blood to your baby.  This in turn increases your blood pressure and eventually the blood vessel walls will start to become damaged, creating small holes.  These holes let some fluids from your bloodstream leak…

Pelvic girdle pain (PGP) is when you experience pain in your lower back, around your symphysis pubic area, between your perineum and vagina and/or down into your thighs. It can feel worse when you are doing activities such as walking, climbing the stairs, stepping out of the car, stepping into the bath, turning over in bed, getting dressed or having sexual intercourse.  The pain can feel like grinding or clicking and can impede your daily activities.  The symptoms usually become worse as baby grows due to the additional weight in your uterus and the increase of the hormone ‘relaxin’ being…

What we do Children’s Physiotherapy is a specialist community physiotherapy service for babies, children and young people living in Herefordshire.  Children’s physiotherapists have additional knowledge and experience of child development and childhood disabilities.  Children’s physiotherapists are responsible for the assessment and physical rehabilitation of children and young people who are identified as having difficulties with the development of gross motor skills and mobility as a result of accident, injury, disease or disability.  They also see children with specific conditions such as Cystic Fibrosis, Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, gait anomalies and life-limiting conditions.  Children’s’ physiotherapists use a variety of…

Visiting restrictions 6/1/26- Visiting has been stoppped (except in exceptional cases) - please follow link below for more information Visiting restrictions have been eased at the Trust's hospitals. Follow this link for the latest information and how to arrange visits.

Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICS – Taking control of your follow-up appointments https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZlLhIAabpU NRAS - PIFU https://nras.org.uk/pifu/

Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICS – Taking control of your follow-up appointments https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZlLhIAabpU   NRAS - PIFU https://nras.org.uk/pifu/

Your perineum Your perineum is the tissue between your vagina and your anus.  During birth you can experience perineal trauma/tearing.  This can be classified into four degrees of severity: 1st degree – these only affect the skin, they usually do not require any repair and heal quickly on their own. 2nd degree – these affect the skin and the perineal muscle layer, repair is usually needed. 3rd and 4th degree – 3.5% of women will experience a more substantial tear which involves the muscle that controls the anus. This degree of tear will need to be repaired in theatre. Episiotomy…