OUH makes changes to the scanning pathway for fetal growth surveillance

Oxford University Hospitals is making changes to the way it monitors babies' growth in pregnancy in line with NHS England’s Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle.

Following recent reviews, we have looked again at the scanning pathway and acted on the feedback we received. We are increasing growth scan surveillance for women. All women who have an identified risk factor for their baby not growing as expected will be offered continued growth scan monitoring beyond 36 weeks, even where the uterine artery Doppler at 20 weeks and 36 week scan are normal. These changes align scanning in late pregnancy with the standard national pathway set out in the Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle.

We are working on introducing these changes with immediate effect. We are also commissioning an independent review of our fetal growth scanning pathway.

If you are currently pregnant and under our care, you do not need to do anything. Your midwife or doctor will talk you through any changes that might be relevant to you at your next appointment.

As always, we encourage any woman who has concerns during pregnancy, including reduced fetal movements, to contact the service for advice so that they can be appropriately monitored and investigated further as necessary.