Antenatal appointments

Your appointments can be:

• face-to-face
• by telephone
• by video call

You can read more about preparing for phone appointments and video appointments.

How your antenatal appointments work

The number of antenatal appointments you have will usually be:

• 10 or more, if this is your first pregnancy
• 7 if you have had a baby before

Appointments may take place in the hospital with a midwife if you live outside the catchment area, or in a local clinic if you live locally. We'll explain this to you at your first midwife appointment.

You usually only need to be seen by a midwife and GP. However, you might be referred to an obstetrician (a doctor who specialises in pregnancy and birth) or one of our specialist clinics. The midwife will explain the reasons for this. These appointments take place in the hospital.

You'll also be offered antenatal ultrasound scans when you are around 12 weeks and 20 weeks pregnant. These take place at St Thomas' Hospital.

Changing or cancelling your appointment

Phone: 020 7188 2300

We answer this number from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.

Before your appointment

Please bring your purple maternity notes booklet to all your appointments. We’ll give you this at your first appointment.

You'll need to bring 2 forms of identification to your 12-week scan (sometimes called your nuchal scan).

If you need to do any other preparation for an appointment, such as fasting, we’ll let you know when we confirm the appointment.

Please do not arrive more than 30 minutes before your face-to-face appointment.

If you arrive more than 15 minutes late, we'll rebook another appointment. We cannot see you on the day.

If you do not attend, the doctor or midwife will decide if your appointment can be rebooked.

During your appointment

Your first appointment with the midwife will take 1 hour.

After that, appointments with our midwives and doctors usually take 20 to 30 minutes.

We strongly advise you to attend every appointment, so that we can check that you and your baby are well.

At each appointment we will test your pee (urine) and check your blood pressure.

We will always ask you about your baby’s movements from 24 weeks onwards.

Your appointments are also an opportunity to talk about how you are feeling.

If the midwife feels it’s necessary, you might also need to see doctors and might be referred to a specialist clinic.

After your appointment

We'll arrange your next appointment. This will depend on your individual needs.

Please contact us if any appointments you were expecting haven’t been arranged.