Subsection 3: Obstetrics, neonatology, neonatal resuscitation.

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.

The birth unit has at least one labour room. All equipment and devices are immediately available and for the exclusive use of the labour room. The labour room is set up so that the parturient can benefit from clinical and paraclinical monitoring of the progress of labour, the expulsion phase and delivery. This monitoring continues for two hours after the birth. The newborn receives first aid. The facilities are equipped…

The birthing unit has at least one obstetric surgery room, which can be used for any abdomino-pelvic surgery related to pregnancy or childbirth requiring general or loco-regional anaesthesia, including in emergencies. Post-intervention monitoring of the parturient is carried out under the conditions of continuous monitoring mentioned in articles D. 6124-97 et seq., either in a post-intervention monitoring room located in the immediate vicinity of the operating theatre, or in the…

The organisation and resources of the rooms for observation and immediate care of newborn babies enable the necessary first aid to be given to the child and any serious distress of the newborn to be dealt with immediately. Medical preparation for the transport of children whose condition requires them to be transferred to specialised units, either inside or outside the health establishment, is carried out in these rooms.

The establishment ensures that the laboratory and imaging tests required for the mother and the newborn are carried out, including in emergencies. Establishments that do not have their own laboratory will sign an agreement with a laboratory providing for the performance and transmission of results at any time, under conditions and within timescales that guarantee the quality of care.

The number of staff working in the birthing sector may not at any time be less than the following: 1° Midwives: a) For any obstetrics unit with less than 1,000 births per year, one midwife is present and permanently assigned to the birth sector; b) For more than 1,000 births per year, the total number of midwives in the birth sector is increased by one full-time midwife for every 200…