MATERNITY services for the conurbation are all set to move to Poole Hospital from later this month.

University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) is moving to the single site as part of plans to develop a combined service.

However, from 2024 the whole operation will revert to Royal Bournemouth Hospital’s new building as part of the major £250m transformation of NHS services in the area.

At present, maternity services are carried out across both Royal Bournemouth and Poole Hospital sites.

This arrangement sees women travelling to the different hospitals at various stages of their pregnancy.

The move to a single service at the St Mary's Maternity Hospital on the Poole site comes into operation from Monday, September 19.

Kerry Taylor, UHD’s head of midwifery, said: “Bringing services together on one site will provide improved access to care on one site, with all of the antenatal team on hand to support women throughout their pregnancy.

“Mothers-to-be will have the opportunity to give birth to their child on the same site they have been visiting throughout their pregnancy.

“With all antenatal staff working together as one team, there will be more staff to support antenatal services, greater consultant and midwife supervision and combined training.

“Our team look forward to welcoming women to the Poole maternity unit in September 2022 with mothers-to-be receiving any appropriate clinic alteration letters in the near future.”

In two years, a combined maternity service will operate at Royal Bournemouth in the new BEACH Building (Births, Emergency care, And, Critical care and child Health), but until that time, all antenatal appointments and in-hospital birthing options will be run from the Poole site.

The antenatal team will offer telephone and virtual appointments to those patients who do not wish to, or are unable to, travel to the Poole site.

Patients requiring examinations from their clinical teams, scans or blood tests, will be required to attend antenatal appointments at the Poole maternity site.

Alex Taylor, clinical director for women’s health, said: “This is an exciting time for UHD as we start the major transformation programme which will refurbish, modernise and develop our sites so that they are fit-for-purpose for their longer-term future.

“Patients and staff alike will benefit from these investments which will provide much more space and a better working environment and will form a key part of a major transformation and development programme for healthcare in the region.

“The maternity service at UHD is committed to providing a safe and equal service to all women and we are grateful for their understanding during this transition period.“

The new BEACH Building is due to open from 2024, with the facility housing a new maternity unit, co-located and aligned to all services to support pregnancy and birth.

The maternity unit at Poole Hospital would shut with the site becoming the major planned care facility for east Dorset.