Choice in childbirth

My Charity is committed to supporting the Trust to provide excellent care, every time, for every mother and baby across its maternity wards.

Our midwives listen to, and value the choices of, pregnant people – ensuring the Trust’s Patient First strategy is adhered to in decision making. Providing choice as part of a patient’s birthing plan is vital and the charity is pleased to have helped improve this pathway for expectant mothers with the installation of new birthing pools at Royal Sussex County Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital.

Water births are becoming increasingly common in the UK, with approximately 10% of mothers opting to deliver in a birthing pool each year. Water is a proven natural pain reliever; immersion in warm water during childbirth supports buoyancy, easing pressure on the spine and pelvis. This, in turn, reduces the need for stronger forms of pain relief during labour for many patients. What’s more, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence emphasises the importance of availability of birthing pools on maternity units.

With no birthing pool at Royal Sussex County Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital, choice was being limited for patients in our area. It was crucial that expectant mothers in Haywards Heath and Brighton and Hove be offered equal opportunities for their deliveries as others across the country. In partnership with the Dervia Foundation, My Charity was able to support this need into fruition by funding brand-new birthing pools at both Royal Sussex County Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital, as well as newly installed floors suitable for water births and LED lighting and Bluetooth speakers. The contemporary rooms provide a calming environment and positive experience of childbirth.

Rebecca Elms, Head of Midwifery, said: “We are so pleased that more women in the area are now able to consider a waterbirth as part of their birthing plans. The state-of-the-art rooms opened in February 2025 and we’ve already had 39 women utilise and birth in the pools.”

Leah recently gave birth to her first baby, using the birthing pool in her delivery journey. The new mum shared: