Maternity and newborn — South Canterbury

To contact maternity and newborn services at Timaru Hospital, phone 03 687 2100.

For information or to register for pregnancy and parenting education classes, contact the Jean Todd Maternity Unit receptionist — phone 03 687 2140.

Maternity and newborn services is at:

Jean Todd Maternity Unit
Level 2, Timaru Hospital
Queen Street
Parkside
Timaru 7910

We aim to provide high-quality care during your pregnancy, helping to ensure the best outcomes possible.

Learn more about what to do when you think you may be pregnant.

Pregnancy and children — Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora (internal link)

You are encouraged to choose and register with your lead maternity carer (LMC) as early as possible in your pregnancy, ideally at 6 to 8 weeks' gestation. Options for pregnancy and maternity care include:

• Aoraki Midwives
• South Canterbury Midwives
• MAMA Midwives.

You may change your LMC at any stage of your pregnancy or after your pēpi (baby) is born.

Find Your Midwife — New Zealand College of Midwives (external link)

The Jean Todd Maternity Unit at Timaru Hospital provides primary and secondary care for families across South Canterbury.

Your partner can be present during labour and birth. At all other times, partners (or other support persons) cannot stay in the unit overnight. The whānau (family) room may be available by arrangement with the duty nurse manager.

The Jean Todd Maternity Unit has:

• 9 single rooms with ensuite facilities
• 2 birthing rooms
• 1 birthing lounge
• 1 common kitchen/dining area.

The unit is staffed by midwives who provide 24 hour, 7 day midwifery care. If your labour starts before 34 weeks' gestation, we transfer you to be cared for at the nearest tertiary hospital, usually Christchurch Women's Hospital.

Christchurch Women's Hospital (external link)

Midwifery care provided in the unit includes women admitted:

• antenatally
• during labour
• postnatally.

We offer obstetric services for women who require specialist care.

Other funded services we provide include:

• pregnancy and parenting education classes
• monthly breast feeding classes
• newborn hearing screening for all pēpi.

We work in collaboration with other services at Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora South Canterbury, including:

• physiotherapists
• dietitians
• diabetes specialist nurses
• paediatricians
• anaesthetists
• social workers
• mental health wellbeing teams
• medical staff, when the mother has a pre-existing medical condition.

We also work with services within South Canterbury including:

• Arowhenua Whānau Services
• Plunket
• public health nurses
• Women's Refuge
• general practice.

Arowhenua Whānau Services (external link)

Women's Refuge (external link)

To ensure we provide the highest quality maternal care, we are part of the Maternity Quality and Safety Programme. The Ministry of Health launched the programme in 2011. The initiative includes:

• a national quality and safety programme for maternity services, including maternity standards and clinical indicators
• revised maternity referral guidelines, which set out processes for transfers of clinical responsibility for care, including in an emergency
• standardised electronic maternity information management to improve communication and sharing of health information among health practitioners
• improved maternity information systems and analysis, so there is better reporting and monitoring of maternity services.