Types of care


The antenatal care you will receive will depend on your own health needs as follows:

Suitable for healthy women

  • Antenatal care will occur mainly in community settings for example GP Practices, Children’s Centres and Health Centres
  • Your antenatal appointments will follow the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Antenatal Care Pathway (see below)
  • You will be seen by a midwife and GP throughout your pregnancy
  • Please ensure that any antenatal appointments made by your GP surgery are with a GP or a Kingston midwife.
  • If problems develop in your pregnancy that require obstetric input, you will access a Consultant-led Obstetric Team
  • Your choice of place of birth could be home, the Birth Centre (our Midwifery Led Unit) or Labour Ward

If you have additional needs you will also receive specialist input from our multidisciplinary team, such as obstetricians, anaesthetists and specialist midwives.

For women with medical or obstetric complications

  • Antenatal care will be shared between the Obstetric Team in hospital, either Queen Mary’s Hospital, Raynes Park or Kingston Hospital, and GPs/midwives in the community
  • If your GP does not offer this provision, it is important that all your appointments are with Kingston midwives, in accordance with the schedule above. Please ensure that any antenatal appointments made by your GP surgery are with a GP or a Kingston midwife.
  • Your antenatal appointments will follow the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Antenatal Care Pathway (see below) and extra appointments as necessary. 
  • Choosing where to give birth: if you have complications you may be advised to have your baby on our Labour Ward.  However, we are happy to discuss alternative options with you to help meet your wishes.

More information about our specialist clinics

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
Antenatal Care Pathway:

  • Nulliparous (first-time mothers) women receive 10 appointments
  • Parous women (second time or more mothers) receive 7 appointments 
  • Please remember to bring a urine sample to every visit (except scans)
  • Please bring your hand held clinic records to each appointment

Schedule of appointments in routine antenatal care

Consultant-led Private Maternity Care

If you prefer, you can receive private maternity services at Kingston Private Health. As a private patient you will receive consultant-led care throughout your pregnancy and birth, complemented by the support of our private midwife and specialist team of paediatricians, anaesthetists, radiologists, sonographers and physiotherapists.  For more information click here.


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