Welcome to our maternity unit at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. We provide personalised and high-quality maternity care for you and your family to ensure that you have the support you need throughout your pregnancy and the postnatal period. Our service covers Hertfordshire and North London.

Congratulations if you have just found out that you are pregnant! To ensure you get the tailored care you need throughout your pregnancy, we recommend that contact you complete a self-referral form. As soon as possible preferably before 8 weeks of pregnancy.

We offer a choice of birthplace options which include either home, an alongside Birth Centre or Delivery Suite which are located within Watford General  hospital

3,785 babies were born at Watford General Hospital in 2022-2023.

We support women in making informed decisions with regards to place of birth, as having this choice has been shown to have a positive effect on the birth experience.

We welcome women to have their baby with us. Please fill out our online self-referral form if you would like to book your pregnancy with us.

Our highly-skilled team of obstetricians, anaesthetists, midwives, nurses and support staff is here to support you, from the time you find out you are pregnant to the birth of your baby and in the first weeks of parenthood.

Most women will navigate through pregnancy without complications, but others will require specialist input.

Our specialist services are listed below:

  • Fetal medicine service
  • Antenatal screening
  • Diabetic service
  • Obstetric haematology service
  • Maternal mental health service
  • Safeguarding and complex needs team
  • Pelvic health specialist (see our video resources)
  • Birth after caesarean section
  • Sonography (ultrasound scanning)

Our Maternity inpatient services are provided at Watford General Hospital with outpatient services being delivered on three sites: Watford General, Hemel Hempstead and St Albans City hospitals.

Maternity services are mostly provided to women within the West Hertfordshire boundaries and as well as women from neighbouring areas who choose to book their care with the trust.

Our Maternity service provides antenatal and postnatal care for approximately 7,000 women.

There are approximately 400 births per year in the Alexandra Birthing Centre.

The Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) has assessed our Maternity service at level two, which means we provide at least 98 hours of direct consultant labour ward cover per week; however, we provide 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week consultant availability.

Below is a detailed outline of the services and facilities provided by the Maternity Service:

Delivery Suite

  • 10 Delivery Rooms
  • Two-bedded Obstetric Observation Bay for high dependency women
  • Two-bedded Obstetric Recovery Bay
  • Bereavement Suite
  • Two Obstetric Theatres

The birthing centre provides a 'home-from-home' service to women with uncomplicated pregnancies, has the following facilities:

  • Eight en-suite Delivery/Postnatal Rooms
  • A Sensory Room
  • Two Pool Rooms

  • 4 Bedded Maternity Triage

  • 26-bedded Postnatal ward
  • Five-bedded transitional care
  • 14-bedded Antenatal ward

  • Level Two Neonatal Unit
  • Dedicated neonatal/midwife newborn initial physical examination clinics on the postnatal ward
  • Hearing screening service

  • Maternity Day Assessment Unit
  • Counselling Service on the Hemel Hempstead and Watford Sites
  • Antenatal Clinic Services on three sites
  • Fetal Medicine Service on two sites
  • Combined Consultant Care in - Combined Endocrine/Obstetric Clinics
  • Joint Perinatal Paediatric/Obstetric Clinics
  • Weekly Consultant Anaesthetic Clinics
  • Dating scan service
  • Combined nuchal screening
  • Quadruple testing
  • Harmony prenatal test