The Hyperemesis Day Care team was set up 12 months ago by Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to provide a fast, effective service for women who suffer from the condition, which causes dehydration and nutritional deficiencies.
Nationally around 80% of women will suffer some form of sickness during pregnancy but only around 10- 15% will require hospital treatment.
Previously women would spend four or five nights on a gynaecology ward being treated, but since the Hyperemesis suite was set up in the maternity ward at Queen’s Hospital, patients can be discharged home after around eight hours after receiving an intensive course of treatment.
Queen's was initially one of two hospitals in the region who offered this service but it has now been implemented at other trusts in the Midlands as best practice for this group of women.
Senior Midwife Jane Lamb, who set up the service alongside Midwife Jo Woolley and Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist Dr Satya Duvvur, said: “We recognised that this group of women needed hospital treatment, but didn’t necessarily need to be in a bed overnight. “This way, a woman can come into the hydration suite – often by self-referral if we have seen them before – and return back home within the same day. The feedback from women has been hugely positive and it is a service that is incredibly valued by patients.”