Midwife home visits for new mums set to return

New mums will be visited at home twice within the first five days of leaving hospital with their baby

Home visits by midwives to women who have just given birth are set to be "fully re-established by mid-October", the Isle of Man's healthcare operator has said.

Manx Care confirmed new mothers would once again be visited by a midwife once she has been discharged from Noble's Hospital and again when the baby is five days old.

It comes as face-to-face new parent classes are also set to return next week after the operator scrapped the service last year in favour of moving them online.

Former midwife Jan Ulyatt, who has been running free monthly four-hour sessions for new parents in the interim and lobbies for both services to be reinstated, said the home visits were "absolutely essential".

Ms Ulyatt said first-time mothers "need that time to bond to heal and to rest, they might struggle to travel for an appointment".

"If you go into a home you can also pick up if there are any issues with illness, postnatal depression, poor feeding, or any potential safeguarding risks," she added.

Home visits were stopped more than a year ago amid an ongoing midwife shortage at Manx Care.

Head of midwifery Regan Baggley said the services were being brough back in "a way that reflects the voices of our community".

"We've worked hard to navigate staffing complexities to ensure our service remains safe, responsive, and accessible for all women who rely on us for care and support," she said.

The health care provider said the reintroduction followed "successful recruitment within the maternity team" and a "transformation" of how outpatient services were delivered.

Jan Ulyatt (left) has held free antenatal sessions during Manx Care's withdrawal of parent craft

Manx Care said its series of videos on areas such as the stages of labour, pain relief options, and caring for a newborn, which had been issued instead of the in-person classes, were still set to remain available as part of a "blended approach" to the delivering the advice to new parents.

Welcoming the changes, Ms Ulyatt, who started offering her own monthly four-hour sessions as a "stopgap" in January, said feedback had shown "women do want face-to-face" advice.

Those that had attended her classes had told her the information had made them feel "empowered and ready for labour", she said, adding: "If you know what is happening, you can cope a lot better."