Maternity Centre

The Clutha Health First Maternity Centre has a reputation for providing one on one care to new parents in a friendly, quiet and ‘homely' environment. It is staffed by a small team of qualified nurses and midwives who will assist you with the journey to parenthood.

The centre provides a low staff/women ratio to ensure that women can have quality time spent with them when needed. We also cater for fathers/support persons who wish to stay with the mother and baby.

The Clutha Health First Maternity Centre comprises of:

• Two private bedrooms with a shared bathroom
• Birthing room with pool en suite
• A lounge for you to relax in and share with your family/visitors with facilities for refreshments.

When the postnatal rooms are in use, we have an additional room just outside the centre that can be used. This room has its own en-suite and television.

Clutha Health First is accredited under the WHO/UNICEF Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI).  This accreditation is part of a global strategy to revitalise world attention to the impact that feeding practices have on the nutritional status, growth and development of infants and young children.

One of the main aims of BFHI accreditation is to encourage all healthcare facilities to protect, promote and support exclusive breastfeeding from birth.   This practice is evidenced in the following 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding which we are required to implement:

1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all healthcare staff
2. Train all healthcare staff in the skills necessary to implement this policy
3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding
4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within a half hour of birth
5. Show mothers how to breastfeed, and how to maintain lactation even if they should be separated from their infants
6. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breastmilk unless medically indicated
7. Practice rooming in - allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day
8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand
9. Give no artificial teats or pacifiers (also called dummies or soothers) to breastfeeding infants
10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic

If you have any questions or would like to know more about BFHI, please ask your midwife or a maternity staff member.

The Maternity Centre strives to provide a highest possible standard of care to women and their families in South Otago.