Having a baby is an exciting time. With the highest standards of healthcare quality and safety, our dedicated team is here to guide you through your care choices and will provide you with personalised care throughout your pregnancy, birth and after your baby is born.
We offer maternity services at Warwick Hospital, Stratford Hospital and in the community at Children and Family Centres. You can plan to give birth at home, in our midwifery led unit (the Bluebell Birth Centre) or in our obstetric unit. Both units are situated at Warwick Hospital and provide a welcoming and calming environment. Our friendly and highly skilled staff are proud to welcome over 3,000 babies into the world each year!
We strive to give babies, parents and families everything they need for the best start in life.
When you find out you’re pregnant, book your maternity care with us by completing our self-referral form below. You can also find advice about keeping healthy during your pregnancy on our webpage.
Maternity:
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Family Health, Maternity, and Neonatal Research at South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust
The Research Team is committed to improving women and birthing people's health, maternity care, and neonatal wellbeing through thorough research with practical outcomes.
Our research aims to:
- Find effective treatments for women and birthing people during pregnancy and childbirth.
- Expand our knowledge to improve the care and guidance we offer.
- Understand patient choices and identify areas for specialised support.
All our research studies go through detailed approval from the Research Ethics Committees (REC) within the Health Research Authority, ensuring the highest standards. Funding for most studies comes from the National Institute of Health Research, with additional support from commercial companies or grant funding in some cases.
Thinking about joining our research? It's completely voluntary and as an organisation we respect your healthcare choices. SWFT welcomes diverse perspectives, where your input helps shape better healthcare practices. Participating in research not only helps us but also benefits you. Your involvement contributes to refining practical approaches for women and birthing people, and families, actively shaping the future of healthcare.
If you're offered participation in a research project, you'll receive information about the study and have the chance to discuss this with your care provider. Here you can ask any questions you might have before deciding whether to take part or not.
Family health, maternity, and neonatal research at SWFT align with NHS values – practical, inclusive, and dedicated to advancing healthcare for all. Explore ongoing projects offered at Warwick Hospital below.
BaBi Warwick
Born and Bred in (BaBi) Warwick is a large-scale data collection project. ALL women and birthing people who have received maternity care at Warwick Hospital since October 2023, can join the project for themselves and their baby. The study aims to find answers to questions that will help our local community and make things better for families in our area. Warwick Hospital, along with the council, local charities, universities, and others, will decide what questions to explore. BaBi Warwick is the first study like this in the Midlands, and as an organisation we're excited to be one of the first hospitals to take part.
If you choose to be part of BaBi Warwick, the Research Team will collect information from you and your baby to help us find answers to important questions about our local community. Your information will be kept safe and used only for research and planning how to provide better services.
Learn more about this study: BaBi Warwick.
Giant PANDA Trial
The Giant PANDA Trial is a study that looks at how different medicines for high blood pressure affect women and birthing people with pregnancy hypertension (raised blood pressure in pregnancy) and their babies. In this study, people who want to take part are randomly put into one of two medicine groups. Both medicines are already used to treat high blood pressure during pregnancy routinely.
The main goal of the trial is to figure out which medicine works best.
The Research Team at SWFT will follow the participant's pregnancy and birth and share anonymous information with the trial team. If the medicine the participant is allocated does not work well for treating their high blood pressure, they can go back to the other medicine, whilst staying in the trial.
Learn more about this study: Giant PANDA.
Recurrent Gestational Diabetes Study
Women and birthing people who have previously had Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) in pregnancy are invited to take part in this observational study. During pregnancy the hormones released from the placenta can make cells in the body respond less well to insulin, and the body has to produce more insulin. Some women and birthing people, however, cannot produce enough insulin, or their body is more resistant to insulin, causing blood glucose levels to remain high. In pregnancy this is called GDM.
This study will collect data around women and birthing people’s pregnancy, birth and postnatal period, with the aim to help figure out the best time and method for testing gestational diabetes. Women and birthing people who decide to take part are asked to have a call with our research team to answer questions about them and their baby at six weeks after their baby is born.
The Cleft Collective Study
The Cleft Collective is the world’s largest research program about cleft lip and/or palate. Cleft lip and/or palate are common conditions affecting about 1 in 700 births per year in the UK. This research helps find out where support is needed and how to make it the best it can be. The goal is to improve care for those born with a cleft and their families.
If you're a family with a baby diagnosed with a cleft lip and/or palate during pregnancy, SWFT would love you to join our study when you see the specialist team. This research will help us learn more about what causes cleft, the best treatments, and how it affects families and individuals. The Research Team will ask for some saliva samples and ask you to fill out questionnaires when the condition is diagnosed, and again when the baby is 18 months, 36 months, 5 years, 8 years, 10 years, 12 years, and 15 years old.
Learn more about this study: The Cleft Collective.
Obstetric Bleeding Study (OBS) UK
The OBS UK is ongoing at SWFT since February 2024. Heavy bleeding during and after birth is the most common problem when giving birth to a baby. The study has created a new way of managing heavy bleeding during and after childbirth (called the OBS UK care bundle). This care bundle helps to recognise bleeding early and to standardise the treatment of heavy bleeding during childbirth. The care bundle will be introduced as standard care at SWFT from May 2025 until August 2026.
If you are having your baby (or babies) in England, and you do not want your data to be used for this trial, you will need to contact the national data opt-out. This is a service that allows you to ‘opt out’ of all your health information being used for all future research and planning (not just for this study). If you don’t want your birth data included in this study specifically, talk to your midwife or the research team to ‘opt out’.
Learn more about this study: OBSUK Study.
WithHolding Enteral feeds Around packed red cell Transfusions (WHEAT) Trial - 'Continuing Care Site'
WHEAT stands for WithHolding Enteral feeds Around packed red cell Transfusions. The WHEAT International trial is a big research study. The study aims to find out if stopping milk feeds around the time of blood transfusions can help reduce a serious gut disease called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in preterm babies.
NEC happens to about 1 in 20 very premature babies. Sadly, about 1 in 3 babies with NEC may not survive, and those who do have a higher chance of facing health and developmental issues later on.
Preterm babies get lots of feeds (every 1 - 3 hours) and often need blood transfusions because they become anaemic (not enough red blood cells). Some doctors have concerns that feeding babies during a blood transfusion might make the risk of NEC higher.
The WHEAT Trial wants to figure out what treatment is best. They will compare babies who have feeds stopped with those who keep getting feeds during blood transfusions. Whether feeds stop or continue is randomly allocated by a computer.
Warwick Hospital is a ‘Continuing Care’ site for the WHEAT Trial. This means babies are recruited to the neonatal trial at another unit and when transferred to Warwick Hospital for continuation of their clinical care, the research project will continue at our hospital. Babies born at SWFT will not be recruited.
Learn more about this study: WHEAT.
Find out more
If you would like more information about any of the studies above, or are interested in taking part in research, please contact our research team:
Research Midwives, Warwick Hospital
Telephone: 01926 495321 ext 8238
Email: researchmidwife
At SWFT we are committed to ensuring our services are accessible, inclusive and equitable to all who use them regardless of race, religion/belief, gender, sexual orientation, social background, disability and age.
Equity means that all women, birthing people and babies achieve the best health outcomes. To ensure this, we will strive to respond to each person’s unique health and social situation – with increasing support as health inequalities increase – so that care is safe and personalised for all.
We believe that everyone should be treated with respect and dignity. We will use both 'women' and 'birthing people' to describe our service users and reject any suggestion that respecting non-binary and trans people diminishes women’s rights. Other terminology that we use is reflective of the preference of some individuals for alternative language alongside anatomical terms.
We will challenge abusive or discriminatory comments or behaviour that are not in line with our inclusive values.
Visit our Equality, diversity and inclusion page on this website for more information about equality, diversity and inclusion at SWFT.
There are currently no restrictions in place within Maternity Services at South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust with regard to COVID-19.
If you’re pregnant, you’re at greater risk of becoming seriously ill if you contract COVID-19. If you get COVID-19 later in your pregnancy (more than 28 weeks pregnant), your baby could also be at risk.
If you have symptoms of COVID-19 and go into labour, you’ll be advised to give birth in the obstetric unit.
Birth partners
If your birth partner has COVID-19 or symptoms of COVID-19, please consider whether it is essential for them to attend the unit with you or whether you could bring someone else. If you do still wish for them to accompany you, please contact the maternity unit on 01926 495321 ext 4552 prior to arrival. Your birth partner will be asked to wear a mask at all times when in the maternity unit to keep your baby, you, other parents and staff safe and well.
Vaccination
COVID-19 vaccination is strongly recommended for pregnant women and people. Anyone who is pregnant is encouraged to access COVID-19 vaccination during the autumn winter programme, as pregnancy is deemed a clinical risk group for COVID-19.
COVID-19 vaccination is available to anyone pregnant irrespective of their previous vaccination history and they should aim to get protected as soon as possible.
The easiest way to access COVID-19 vaccination is by:
- Booking online through the NHS app.
- Contacting your GP to arrange an appointment.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding COVID-19, please contact:
- Bluebell Birth Centre on 01926 495321 ext 6977 or
- Maternity Assessment Suite on 01926 495321 ext 8408
The latest maternity information concerning COVID-19, can be found here: