Dedicated clinic for women with signs of pre-eclampsia set to open at Royal Preston Hospital

A dedicated clinic for pregnant women and those who have just given birth is set to open in the Sharoe Green Maternity Unit at Royal Preston Hospital.

The clinic will be for the management of pregnant and newly birthed women and birthing people with hypertension, pre-eclampsia and eclampsia.

It will open this month (August) as part of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals’ maternal medicine centre.

The Lancashire Antenatal Pre-eclampsia and Hypertension Clinic (LeAPH) was been developed by Dr Emma Ingram, lead obstetric consultant for hypertension, and Sr Lisa Cook, Specialist Midwife for Maternal Medicine.

Lisa said: “We needed to provide a better service for these women and birthing people, so we have set up the LeAPH clinic as a holistic ‘one-stop shop’.

“We’re really pleased to get the service up and running. It’s taken a lot of work, but it will be a brilliant service that we’re proud to be able to offer. It’s been an interesting journey, but it is certainly needed. We want to make sure these women and birthing people are well managed, and we want a positive experience and successful outcomes for our families.”

It will run on Wednesday mornings in the Trust’s Antenatal clinic.

As part of the service, pregnant women will be provided with a home blood pressure monitor, where they can upload their results for staff to review their recordings and give advice.

Previously, if hypertension was identified there was no clear management pathway in place.

The clinic has been added to the Trust’s maternal medicine centre, which was established in October 2023 and has gone from ‘strength to strength’.

However, one area which was identified for the centre to target was the problem of hypertension in pregnancy, which affects a significant number of people and can develop into a life-threatening condition for mother and baby. This is why the LeAPH clinic was devised.

Subscribe: Keep in touch directly with the latest headlines from Blog Preston, join our WhatsApp channel and subscribe for our twice-a-week email newsletter. Both free and direct to your phone and inbox.