Written by Mr Richard Sheridan for Doctify
Making sure an expecting mother is taken care of during pregnancy is one of the fundamental responsibilities of her doctor. However, there are other elements other than the quality of the care that she’s receiving that can cause anxiety during this time. Hospital visits, having to travel into Central London for appointments, making sure your doctor has all the correct formal qualifications – these can all factor in and lead to stress.
Luckily, there is another option for those already pregnant or trying. Mr Richard Sheridan explains his unique qualifications below.
What is the CQC?
The CQC is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. They make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and encourage care services to improve.
What is the accreditation that you have received and why is it so unique?
All hospitals that deliver babies are registered for the provision of Maternity & Midwifery Services. However, when I was registered for this at the CQC following interview, I was told that I was the first private outpatient service provider to be registered for this in the UK.
Where are you practicing?
I am practicing at Centennial Medical Care (CMC) in Elstree.
Why is this so important and special?
Within the NHS, GP’s premises are registered via the hospital in which their ladies go to deliver. However, CMC now has someone working on its site who has this appropriate registration.
What makes CMC unique is it is the only private facility, that we know of, that is licensed to provide Maternity & Midwifery Services outside central London. This enables women from Hertfordshire, North London and further afield, to have a local antenatal service. They only need to go into Queen Charlotte’s Maternity Hospital (which is one of the most prestigious and well respected maternity hospitals in the country) for their delivery.
Ladies who want to have their babies privately otherwise, would only be able to see their obstetricians in accredited premises such as the hospital in which they would deliver.
So, what is the process for an expecting mother coming to CMC?
I see women for confirmation of their pregnancy with viability scanning between 6 and 8 weeks. They are seen at CMC for their antenatal care, initially monthly and then in the later stages of pregnancy fortnightly.
They have growth scans at CMC, but their prenatal diagnosis and their 20 week anomaly scan is done at The Fetal Medicine Centre in Harley Street. There is a morning and evening service for women to have private care locally, with an experienced Consultant Obstetrician and midwife, rather than just a Consultant Obstetrician in central London.
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