Book I: Health establishments

The health care establishment authorised to practise obstetrics sets up an organisation enabling : 1° To provide pregnant women with information on the progress of childbirth, its after-effects and the organisation of care ; 2° Provide birth preparation and visits to the birth area (or obstetric unit) for patients who so wish; 3° Providing a consultation at the beginning of the last trimester of pregnancy with a gynaecologist-obstetrician or midwife…

In addition to the beds and places used for gynaecology, any newly created obstetrics unit includes a minimum of fifteen beds. In the event of its creation, any independent specialised obstetrics establishment must have a minimum of twenty-five obstetrics beds on the same site.

Every obstetrics unit comprises premises reserved for receiving patients twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year, as well as for consultations, a birthing sector, an inpatient sector for accommodation and care before and after childbirth, and a sector for feeding newborn babies. If the establishment also has a neonatology unit or a neonatal intensive care unit on the same site, this last sector may be shared by these…

The birthing area includes 1° Pre-labour rooms ; 2° Labour rooms ; 3° Rooms for observation and immediate care of newborn babies; 4° At least one intervention room for obstetric surgery. In the event of the creation of a birth sector, or the reconstruction or general refurbishment of an existing sector, all the premises making up this sector, as well as the operating theatre and the post-interventional surveillance room, are…

The birthing unit has at least one pre-delivery room equipped to receive the woman in labour, prepare her for delivery and monitor the onset of labour. The pre-labour room has the same equipment as a hospital room. If necessary, the pre-labour room can be used as a labour room if it is equipped accordingly.