16 August 2024

Last month, our first stand-alone maternity hub opened in Wellington Business Park, Crowthorne - the newest of six community hubs associated with Frimley Park Hospital. 

A few years in the making, it came off the back of community maternity services not being able to use GP surgeries throughout the Covid pandemic. 

Transformed from an office block into a beautifully decorated, calm and well-thought-out area, the intelligent design enables a smooth patient flow, while the modern, fresh and spacious surroundings are a pleasure to work in. 

Claire Bowers, community midwife and team leader for Crowthorne maternity hub, said: “We are proud to be part of the very first stand-alone hub.  It’s well documented that smaller teams work more effectively, and the steady increase in birth numbers saw two of the existing hubs become larger than the others. Creating the new Crowthorne hub has reduced the size of those teams and balanced out the work across the areas, a positive change for both patients and staff.” 

“We care for women from the moment of their first booking appointment with the midwife until they have had their baby. There can be up to 13 routine appointments with midwives during their journey, so it’s important for the environment to be just right. 

“Our care assistants’ room is nearest to the waiting area so as well as supporting our midwives, they can be on hand to guide and assist our patients as they enter the hub. When they first step into the waiting area they are greeted by a beautiful space with plenty of seating, a fresh water dispenser and a large noticeboard full of information, and every room benefits from air-conditioning/heating for optimum comfort - which was deeply appreciated by all in our recent heatwave! In addition to this, the clinic rooms and waiting area are spacious so women with family members and pushchairs in tow have plenty of room to manoeuvre, and space to relax in during their appointments.” 

Located in the heart of the community, patients can benefit from easy-to-access free parking, plus the train station, providing an essential transport link from Camberley, is only a few minutes' walk away. 

The hub has four clinical rooms downstairs with a further clinical room upstairs. Upstairs there is also a counselling room, an office, a group room plus a large meeting room for training and presentations. 

Claire continues: “Soon we will be welcoming our full-time counsellor as well as other maternity services - homebirth team, diabetes midwives, out-of-area team, hearing screening and the vaccination nurse. We feel honoured to be a part of this successful patient-facing project and look forward to being part of the Crowthorne community for many years to come.” 

Other maternity hubs are based in Aldershot Centre for Health, The Voyager health centre in Farnborough, Fleet and Farnham hospitals (the team also see patients at Yateley and Blackwater surgeries), Surrey hub in Frimley Park Hospital and Bracknell hub at Skimped Hill Surgery.