A dedicated advice line for pregnant women and mums who have recently given birth officially launched this week.

The Surrey Heartlands Pregnancy Advice Line is staffed by midwives and offers clinical support around the clock.

It supports women under the care of Epsom and St Helier hospitals, Royal Surrey County Hospital and Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals during pregnancy, labour and following the birth of their baby.

Epsom and St Helier’s director of midwifery and gynaecology nursing, Marion Louki, said: “This is just one of many improvements that we will be continuing to make to the maternity care that we provide at our Trust, ensuring that we maintain our provision of outstanding care to our mothers and babies.”

The advice line will:

• Triage calls, assess risks and signpost women to the most appropriate place for help, providing access for women to the right maternity care

• Give women access to clinical advice from qualified midwives, 24-hours a day, seven days a week

• Enhance links with emergency services when required for pregnancy-related health issues

• Connect women with midwives who have up-to-date information on the capacity of each maternity unit, enabling the midwives to direct pregnant women to the best place for their care or birth

• Enable health professionals to get fast access to a midwife for advice or triage.

Surrey Heartlands is one of seven early adopter sites for the Maternity Transformation Programme across England.

Vicky Williams, head of commissioning acute paediatrics and maternity for Surrey Heartlands CCGs, said: “The new advice line is a major step forward in achieving our ‘Better Births’ vision to provide sustainable, high quality health care for women and children.”

One telephone number will connect to Surrey Heartlands Pregnancy Advice Line, call: 0300 123 5473.