Maternity

IMPORTANT UPDATE ON HOMERTON MATERNITY DOCUMENTS (March 2026)

Please see below an update regarding the issue affecting Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust maternity and newborn discharge summaries and antenatal booking summaries, which have not been accessible via the Cerner/HIE portal when accessed through EMIS Web.

Backlog communications
From Saturday, 14th March, Homerton maternity and newborn discharge summaries and antenatal booking summaries will be emailed directly to all practices via your generic practice email inbox. These emails will cover the backlog for the period from January 2026, when the issue with opening PDF documents in Cerner/HIE through EMIS Web was first identified.
As this is a manual process, it will take some time for the full backlog to be issued, but this approach is necessary in the interest of patient safety.

Going forward
From Monday 16th March 2026, Homerton discharge summaries for mothers and babies, as well as antenatal booking summaries, will be sent daily to all individual practices via your generic practice email inbox.
This interim process has been implemented due to a technical issue affecting the ability to open Cerner/HIE PDF documents within EMIS Web.

Technical resolution
Optum, as the provider of EMIS Web, is undertaking the required remedial work to resolve this issue. This includes ensuring that practices using EMIS Web can reliably access and open documents from the Cerner/HIE portal moving forward.

Work is ongoing to implement a permanent fix. In the meantime, email distribution will continue as a temporary safety measure to ensure practices receive this essential clinical information without further delay.
Thank you for your patience and understanding while this issue is being resolved. A further update will be shared once a permanent fix is in place. Please direct any queries to the Homerton digital midwife team: huh-tr.digital-midwives@nhs.net

Click here for Homerton Maternity Services Updates – Oct 2025

Click here for Useful Preconception Patient Information Links

Update to the care pathways for pregnant patients between 16–18 weeks gestation

a) Previous pathway: Patients in this gestational range were routinely seen in Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit (EPAU).

b) Updated guidance: EPAU is not always the most suitable environment. We anticipate this change will affect approximately 2–4 additional patients per week, and activity will be heavily audited.

c) Patients at 16 weeks with acute problems (e.g. bleeding, pain) can present to the Emergency Obstetric Unit (EOU) for review.

• Midwives will triage these patients and then they will see a doctor.
• The gynae team can assist if acuity is high.
• If admission is required (e.g. inevitable miscarriage), this should be to a maternity area.

d) Hyperemesis presentations remain unchanged — patients should attend A&E and follow the hyperemesis pathway.
e) If the patient is not booked at Homerton, they should be referred to their local unit.
f) If the patient is unbooked, they should attend EPAU for dating.
g) For all other issues, the GP remains the appropriate referral point.

Obstetric physiotherapy referrals

Please email huh-tr.pelvichealthphysiohuh@nhs.net to refer patients for obstetric physiotherapy. There is no referral form but please add as much detail as possible in the email.

Eligibility criteria are:
a) patient is living in hackney or
b) having their baby in Homerton hospital
c) >12 gestation
d) pain associated / caused by pregnancy (no longstanding issues)
e) pelvic floor dysfunction during pregnancy
f) can be referred up to 3 months post-natal

Advice and Guidance
The Maternity and Obstetric Advice and Guidance Service is via email huh-tr.obstetricquery@nhs.net. You can expect a response within 72 hours. For any more urgent issues, bleep the Emergency Obstetric Unit (EOU) registrar on bleep 364 (>16/40 gestation) or the on-call obstetrics registrar on bleep 003 via Homerton switchboard (0208 510 5555)

Within this webpage we use the terms woman and women's health. However, it is important to acknowledge that it is not only women for whom it is necessary to access maternity services to maintain their gynaecological health and reproductive wellbeing. Maternity services and delivery of care must therefore be appropriate, inclusive and sensitive to the needs of those individuals whose gender identity does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth.

Information pack for pregnant smokers

Public Health England have launched a new information pack for pregnant smokers.

The pack includes information about the health risks, a myth buster, advice on the support available from local stop smoking services and tips on dealing with cravings and stress. It is a clinical resource designed to be shared as part of a confidential and supportive 1-1 intervention by a midwife, or member of the midwifery team – if you feel it would help.

Your can order the pack for your patients here (Password: stopsmoking).