Research in our maternity department

This study is looking at which blood pressure medication is best for pregnant women with high blood pressure and their babies.

• We will compare two medications called Labetalol and Nifedipine. Both have been widely used in the NHS to treat high blood pressure in pregnancy for many years and are both considered safe in pregnancy.
• Around half the women taking part in this study will be asked to take Labetalol and the other half Nifedipine. The group you are in will be decided by chance and your healthcare team would be happy with you having either.
• All women will continue to receive their usual NHS care during pregnancy.

To enquire about the study please contact research midwives – nwangliaft.fissresearch@nhs.net

This GBS3 trial is looking at whether testing pregnant women for Group B Streptococcus reduces the risk of infection in newborn babies compared to the current strategy in place in the UK. The current strategy in the UK is to offer antibiotics during labour to women who are considered at raised risk of their baby developing a group B Strep infection. There are three different arms to the study;

• Continue current strategy of screening women for risk factors and giving antibiotics to women with risk factors
• An antenatal test for all eligible women 3-5 weeks before your due date which is processed in the lab using a process called Enriched Culture medium. Women who return a positive swab will be offered antibiotics in labour 
• A test in labour for all eligible women using a rapid test machine. Women who return a positive test will be offered antibiotics in labour

North West Anglia is participating in the GBS3 trial and has been randomised to continue with current practice of screening women for GBS risk factors. 

This study is an ‘opt-out’ study, therefore data about your labour and birth will be routinely collected from the hospital databases once you have given birth. This routine data is anonymised and will be deleted once the study has finished.

If you do not want your data to be routinely collected as part of the GBS3 trial you will need to ‘opt-out’ at the following website, https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-data-opt-out

However please be aware that this will withdraw your data from all research and planning, not just for the GBS3 trial.

What is Group B Strep? 

Group B Streptococcus is also known as GBS, Strep B or group B Strep. It is a common bacteria that normally causes no harm. In the UK, 1 in 4 pregnant women carry group B Strep in their vagina and rectum. You’re unlikely to know you carry it.

If you carry group B Strep, your baby may be exposed to it around labour and birth. While most babies won’t be affected, GBS can occasionally cause serious infection in young babies and, very rarely, during pregnancy before labour. Most early onset GBS infections (those developing in the first week of life) are preventable, and if your newborn baby develops signs of GBS infection they should be treated with antibiotics straight away.

Get in touch:

If you would like to discuss further with your local research midwife team please email them via Nwangliaft.fissresearch@nhs.net.

Recent studies have shown that if a woman has an emergency caesarean section in one pregnancy (particularly when the cervix or neck of the womb is fully or nearly open) she is at higher risk of having a premature baby or ‘late’ miscarriage (a miscarriage after 14 weeks of pregnancy) in a future pregnancy.  However, we do not know how many women this is likely to affect.

So that we can find out exactly how many women this is likely to affect we are asking women who have had a caesarean section in labour, in a previous pregnancy, if they are happy for us to collect information about what happens to them in this pregnancy and their baby after birth. 

This will help us to find out about the risks of caesarean section in labour, and also whether the tests we usually use to predict which women will deliver early (such as measuring the length of the cervix using an internal ultrasound scan and fetal fibronectin tests) work in the same way in these women.

Infertility affects one in six couples, with 25% of infertility being due to anovulation (not releasing eggs from the ovaries).Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is also very common; (approximately 10% of women of reproductive age in the UK have this condition) and it is responsible for 85% of anovulation. Invasive treatments, such as an operation called ovarian diathermy or In-vitro fertilisation (IVF), may overcome anovulation from PCOS, but are associated with significant risks and costs. This trial will explore the use of an oral tablet treatment to reduce the need for invasive, risky and costly fertility treatments for women with PCOS, and may improve patient experience.

Participate in a research study to help find out the best diet in gestational diabetes

We are running a research study to assess the best diet for women with gestational diabetes.

Eating well with gestational diabetes can help both you and your baby. However, no one knows exactly how much food women with gestational diabetes should eat. Previous studies suggest that eating less, and preventing weight gain during pregnancy could improve the health of mums and their babies.

This study will test two diets with different total calorie intake to identify which is healthiest for mums and babies.

What do I have to do?
The DiGest team will see you 4 times – either during your hospital visits or at your home. These visits last 5-30 minutes each.

Weekly food boxes will be delivered to your door. These continue until the birth of your baby.

The tasty food is specially prepared by our chef and easy to cook at home. It  is nutritionally balanced to meet the needs of you and your baby during pregnancy.