Birth Afterthoughts service

Information for women, birthing people and their families

At East Kent Hospitals, we offer a ‘Birth Afterthoughts’ service. Birth Afterthoughts is a service run by specialist midwives. You may have questions about the birth, days or even many months or a year or two after the birth of your baby or babies. We are able to offer you and your support person (if you have one) a debrief.

The Birth Afterthoughts service will:

We welcome feedback but we are not a complaints service. Information on making a complaint can be found at the bottom of this leaflet.

We accept referrals at any time. However, we recommend that you have your appointment at least 6 weeks after birth. This will give you and / or your support partner:

Some may choose not to talk about their birth experiences, as it is too soon after birth. You can always use our Birth Afterthoughts service when the time is right for you.

How do I contact the Birth Afterthoughts service?

Please self-refer here:                                                                                                                             

The Birth Afterthoughts service is very popular. At times there can be a wait to be seen. Please be patient with us. We will contact you as soon as possible with an approximate wait time. Each referral will be triaged by the team to make sure we are the best / most appropriate service for you.

During your stay in hospital, you can talk to us at any time and ask any questions you may have. You can also speak with your community midwife once you have gone home.

What if I want to talk about something urgently or I have a complaint?

If you have something regarding your care that you need to discuss urgently, you can contact our patient experience midwives via email.

If you would like to make a complaint you can contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS).