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The Sussex Maternal Medicine Service is a team working across Sussex to ensure that all women/people have access to specialist maternal medicine advice wherever they plan to give birth. The Maternal Medicine Centre (MMC) is based in Brighton. There you will be seen jointly by a Consultant Physician and a Consultant Obstetrician who specialise in looking after women with medical conditions in pregnancy and you will be supported by maternal medicine specialist Midwife. Additionally, at each of our other hospital sites the MMC Obstetricians run maternal medicine clinics to provide local care for women with high-risk conditions, liaising with the Centre and the rest of the team as necessary. If your pregnancy is unplanned you will need to inform your specialist as soon as you find out you are pregnant.
If your Specialist, GP, Obstetrician, or midwife feels that you have, or are at risk of getting, a medical problem during pregnancy, you will be referred to either a Maternal Medicine Consultant based at your local hospital or to the Sussex Maternal Medicine Centre based in Brighton. The maternal medicine team at the Centre take referrals from all six hospital sites across Sussex and once you have been referred your pregnancy care will be shared between the maternal medicine team and midwives. Your care, including the frequency of appointments, will be individually tailored according to your needs, and delivered locally wherever possible.
At your first appointment you will usually be asked about your medical history, and we will consider how your medical problem may affect your pregnancy, or if being pregnant, how pregnancy could affect your condition.
Sometimes we might start or stop medications and make onward referrals for scans or appointments.
After your appointment we will send a letter to you, your GP and the medical specialists involved in your care outlining what is needed to support your pregnancy. Some women and people only need a single appointment in the MMC and will then continue to be seen either by the Maternal Medicine Obstetrician at their local hospital or by their usual team of midwives and doctors. Others will need to have some or all of their care at the MMC and very occasionally delivery also needs to be planned in Brighton
We work in collaboration with consultants from a wide range of specialities (physicians such as neurologists, gastroenterologists, oncologists, rheumatologists as well as anaesthetists, obstetric physicians, obstetricians) and your own specialist. We conduct regular multidisciplinary meetings to discuss the safest care for you and your baby before, during (including birth) and after pregnancy.
Some conditions have their own joint obstetric-specialist clinic. These include Obstetric Cardiology Clinics (in Brighton but also Southampton or in London if you are already attending specialist care there and want to continue to do so). Other joint obstetric-specialist clinics include Diabetes/Endocrine Antenatal Clinics (at all sites) and Joint Obstetric-Haematology Clinics.
Maternal medicine (obstetric medicine) is the specialist care of pregnant women who either have a pre-existing medical condition or have specific pregnancy-related diseases that can affect any organ in the body.
Please see Existing Health Conditions for more information.
It's important to continue taking any medication prescribed unless your GP/specialist specifically tells you to stop. Please visit our Existing Health Conditions page for more information, or visit 'Bumps' ('Best Use of Medicines in Pregnancy').
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