Gas and air could be offered during childbirth at Peterborough City Hospital within weeks

Gas and air could be offered to women in labour at Peterborough City Hospital within weeks after a prolonged withdrawal.

The hospital stopped offering Entonox, a pain relieving gas mixture, in February this year over safety concerns for staff.

Levels of nitrous oxide, which is combined with oxygen to form the mixture, in the air were found to be above an acceptable level and its use was paused.

But Melissa Davies, director of midwifery at the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, says its use could be resumed very soon.

After attempts to improve ventilation failed to bring nitrous oxide levels in balance at the hospital, several scavenger units were ordered, she said; these are specialist medical devices used to gather gas or aerosolized medication from the air.

Their efficacy will be tested at the end of this week, she said at a Peterborough City Council (PCC) health meeting on Tuesday, 8th November, and if initial results suggest they can bring Entonox levels to an acceptable level it will then be a “quick process” to reintroduce it to the maternity ward.

The devices are expected to reduce circulating levels of the mixture by 80 per cent, she added.

Ms Davies also said she “recognises the impact” withdrawing Entonox from Peterborough City Hospital has had.

In the eight months it has been unavailable, expectant mothers have been offered the pain relief drug Penthrox or otherwise changed their birth plans, such as by being re-routed to Hinchingbrook Hospital or being supported to have home births.

Ms Davies added that resuming use of Entonox in Peterborough has been “a long time coming” and that its reintroduction is a “very high priority” for the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust.