Maternity Service

The Whangārei Hospital Maternity Service is both a primary and secondary facility.

Usually, women will be cared for by their Lead Maternity Carer (LMC) in labour with the hospital midwives supporting your LMC in the delivery suite. The hospital midwives also look after women who are under secondary obstetric care due to a more complicated pregnancy. They will also care for you in the postnatal ward prior to your discharge home.

Pregnant women requiring more intensive care or who are in labour under 32 weeks are usually flown to Auckland for specialist care and return when their baby is stable.

The postnatal ward also caters for antenatal women who require hospitalisation prior to delivery as well as women who have had their baby.

We do not stipulate how long the hospital stay will be, this is decided by consultation between the woman, her LMC and the core midwifery staff.   An average stay is usually about 2-3 days after a normal birth and 4-5 days following a C-section.

We also offer the services of a Lactation Consultant to assist breastfeeding women, if required.

The midwives work closely with women who are involved with other services such as Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Dependency.

The DHB employed midwives also provide childbirth education classes.

Maternity Services employs inpatient and outpatient maternity social workers to work alongside women and their LMC. They will visit all women who are referred or as requested and initiate individual support for them and their families.

Northland DHB has three primary maternity facilities in Northland at Kaitaia, Bay of Islands and Dargaville hospitals.  Primary, low risk, women have the option of birthing at home or in the facility at Kaitaia or Bay of Islands. Inpatient postnatal care is available at all three units for women who choose or are required to birth at Whangārei.

All Northland DHB maternity units have gained Baby-Friendly Hospital status. A Baby-Friendly Hospital (BFH) is a health care facility where the practitioners who provide care for women and babies adopt practices that aim to protect, promote and support exclusive breastfeeding from birth. At the same time, Baby-Friendly facilities ensure that women who choose not to breastfeed are supported in their decision and provided with unbiased information and advice.

Consultants include:

• Dr Ian Page
• Dr Catherine Appleby
• Dr Anand Ganji
• Dr Jenny Blasingame
• Dr David Bailey
• Dr Kristy Wolff
• Dr Charlotte Farrant

Visiting Hours

Click here for visiting hours.

Location

Whangārei Hospital
Te Kotuku Maternity unit is accessible via Hospital Road. 

Contact

Iona Cameron-Smith – Midwife Manager
Ph: 021 824 618 Email: Iona.Cameron-Smith@northlanddhb.org.nz

Sue Bree – Midwifery Director and Service Manager - Maternity Service
Private Bag 9742
Whangārei 
E-mail: sue.bree@northlanddhb.org.nz

To find a midwife in Northland go to this link