Book I: Health establishments

Establishments providing care for pregnant women and newborn babies include, on the same site, either an obstetrics unit, or an obstetrics unit and a neonatology unit, or an obstetrics unit, a neonatology unit and a neonatal intensive care unit.

In order to contribute to improving the safety of pregnancy, birth and the perinatal environment of the mother and child, health establishments practising obstetrics : 1° Participate in the management of pregnancies and the identification, during pregnancy, of risk factors for the mother and child, in order to refer the mother to a suitable structure before delivery; 2° Provide childbirth and care for the mother and newborn, as well as…

The purpose of neonatology is to monitor and provide specialist care for at-risk newborns and those whose condition has deteriorated after birth.

The purpose of neonatal resuscitation is to monitor and provide specialist care for newborns in serious distress or at vital risk.

The obstetrics unit carries out childbirth and abdomino-pelvic surgery related to pregnancy, childbirth and delivery, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. It is also involved in screening for risk factors during pregnancy, particularly as part of antenatal consultations. It provides post-delivery care for the mother and any newborn children born in the hospital. If the facility in which the child was born cannot provide appropriate care, it…

The neonatology unit provides round-the-clock surveillance and the specialised care mentioned in article R. 6123-41 every day of the year, whether or not newborn babies are born in the establishment. An intensive care sector for newborns presenting one or more acute pathologies or coming out of a neonatal intensive care unit may be organised within the neonatology unit. If the neonatology unit where the child is located is unable to…

The neonatal intensive care unit provides the supervision and specialised care mentioned in article R. 6123-42 every day of the year, 24 hours a day, whether or not newborn babies are born in the establishment’s obstetrics unit. This unit is associated with a neonatology intensive care sector on the same site.

Only health establishments providing the care mentioned in a of 1° of article L. 6111-2 may be authorised, in application of articles L. 6122-1 and L. 6122-2, to carry out care activities relating to obstetrics, neonatology and neonatal resuscitation.

Obstetrics is carried out in facilities authorised for gynaecology-obstetrics. When an establishment with an obstetrics unit does not have an adult intensive care unit, it enters into an agreement, subject to the approval of the Director General of the Regional Health Agency, with an establishment that does have such a unit. Any healthcare establishment practising obstetrics and treating identified high-risk maternal pregnancies must have an adult intensive care unit where…

Neonatology is carried out in facilities authorised for this purpose. Each neonatology unit is either an individual unit or a separate sector within a paediatrics unit.