My NHS care in pregnancy

When you first register your pregnancy, you will be allocated to a midwifery team who will care for you during your pregnancy, labour and following the birth of your baby.

Appointments will be:

• with your midwife or a member of the midwifery team
• with a sonographer for ultrasound scans.

You may also see:

• an obstetrician (doctor specialising in pregnancy and birth conditions)
• other specialists.

You will be given information about how to keep yourself and baby as safe as possible, including:

• lifestyle choices to stay well and support your baby to grow
• getting to know your baby's movements
• knowing the warning signs to report straight away during pregnancy.

In Kent and Medway, your antenatal care is based on national recommendations and will include:

• a booking appointment where your midwifery team will discuss your health and wellbeing in-depth to plan your antenatal care
• a scan to date the pregnancy, detect twin pregnancies and check your baby is growing well
• pregnancy tests and screening
• a scan for baby at around 20 weeks to check their development
• blood tests to check your iron levels and general health
• blood pressure and urine checks
• checks to ensure baby is growing as expected (measurements or scans).

How antenatal appointments are arranged can differ between each hospital and the midwifery team. Your midwife will provide you with information on your planned appointments at your first booking appointment. This plan will remain flexible as your pregnancy progresses.

Here is the full list of all the appointments you can expect in pregnancy.

If you are working, then you are allowed paid time off for attending antenatal care. Find out more about working when pregnant at GOV.UK.

In the most straightforward cases, a midwife can provide all the care needed for you and your baby for pregnancy, birth and the early days. Your care will then be transferred to  Health Visiting . Often, other professionals will get involved depending on what is needed.  Meet the team  explains the role of the obstetrician, physiotherapist and others.

All women in the UK are entitled to NHS maternity care, regardless of nationality or immigration status    - or their ability to pay for the care.

You must never be refused NHS maternity care, even if you are not able to pay for it or have not paid for previous NHS care. 

Maternity care includes pregnancy care, care during childbirth and care of mother and baby after birth

Maternity care payments

Although all women in the UK are entitled to NHS maternity care, whether you will be charged for that care will depend on your nationality, immigration, and residence status at the time you receive that care.

NHS hospitals can ask for payment in advance of providing NHS treatment unless doing so would prevent or delay treatment termed 'immediately necessary or urgent' and providing the hospital has made reasonable enquiries as to whether you must pay for NHS treatment.

An 'immediately necessary service' includes all maternity care - including antenatal care, care in childbirth and postnatal care of mother and baby.

This means that your maternity care must never be refused or delayed, even if you have not agreed to pay charges, cannot afford to pay or there is a query about whether you are chargeable.

The Maternity Care Access Advice Service provides telephone and email advice and online information to help pregnant women from abroad with questions about how to access NHS maternity care and their entitlements.

Contact the helpline on 0808 800 0041. It's open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays between 10am to 12noon.

Calls to this helpline are free from landlines and mobile phones in the UK.

NHS entitlements: migrant health guide

The Nursing and Midwifery Council: How we regulate midwifery.