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About us
Maternity Triage (previously DAU) is situated on the ground floor of the Princess Alexandra Unit. The unit is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Triage is staffed by senior midwives, Obstetric Doctors and Maternity Support Workers and is an outpatient service for pregnant people who require additional monitoring during pregnancy.
Reasons to attend include (but not limited to) high blood pressure, concerns about you baby’s movements, suspected pre-term labour, vaginal bleeding or abdominal pain.
You would usually be referred by your GP, Community Midwife or the Telephone Triage Midwife.
Maternity Triage (previously DAU) uses a triage system to determine who needs to be seen first. This means you will be seen according to your clinical need and severity of your symptoms, rather than the time of your arrival. This is to ensure that emergency admissions are seen as a priority for the health and safety of both parent and baby.
Please bring your green handheld maternity notes with you when you come to Maternity Triage (previously DAU). Please also bring some snacks as you may have a moderate wait due to prioritising for safety.
During your admission, please ask a member of the triage team if you have any questions or concerns. They are there to help and will endeavour to have you seen and assessed as quickly as possible.
Directions to Maternity Triage (previously DAU)
Maternity Triage (previously DAU) is in the Princess Alexandra Wing at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske in Truro. When you arrive at the hospital, follow the signs to the Princess Alexandra Wing. Maternity Triage (previously DAU) is on the ground floor.
Please see the hospital pages on the main hospital website for directions, facilities, maps, and accessibility information for each of our three hospital sites:
Visiting Maternity Triage (previously DAU)
A support person can attend Maternity Triage (previously DAU) with you at all times, but regretfully no children are allowed in triage.
Please try to avoid bringing children with you wherever possible due to the clinical nature of some offers of care and also the potential for prolonged waits.
You must not visit if you have any of these symptoms
COVID-19 testing for maternity visiting and appointments
From the beginning of pregnancy, all partners or support person must commence twice weekly COVID-19 testing to enable approved visiting and attendance at appointments
Pregnant women and people can have one support partner with them at:
- early pregnancy unit appointments
- all maternity scan appointments including growth scans
- all antenatal clinic appointments (Community and hospital)
- all Community Postnatal appointments
- maternity triage visits
- throughout labour in Delivery suite and birth centres
- Wheal Fortune (Transitional Care), subject to individual approval, between 2-5pm every day
- Wheal Rose, your midwife will discuss with you further on the day or please phone the night before if you have a planned admission booked.
There may be limitations in visiting which differ from day to day and to protect everyone a daily risk assessment will take place on Wheal Rose each day.
Paediatrics
One parent at any time and both parents to be present in the event of a critically ill child.
Top tips when visiting
- visitors need to introduce themselves and advise who they are visiting.
- they will also be required to wash their hands and may need to wear appropriate PPE during the visit.
- feel free to help out at mealtimes
- do not disturb clinical staff during medicine rounds
- when asked to leave a bay or room, please respect our request
- when you leave the ward following your visit, you will need to remove any PPE, dispose of it properly, and wash your hands
Please see the Visiting and appointments page for further general information.
Related information
What patients can expect from us
Our pledge is to let our patients know what they are in hospital for, what is needed before we can send them home, a timeframe for their discharge and an opportunity for them to be involved in shared decision-making about their treatment and care.
Contacting the ward for updates on your loved one
The ward is a busy place and our priority is patient care; the best time to call is after 11 am, once the doctors have completed their rounds. Upon admission to our ward we will establish if our patients are able to make contact with loved ones.
We suggest that one person is nominated to call the ward for updates and to act as the patient’s single point of contact. Our patients with capacity and the ability to contact loved ones themselves, are best placed to provide an update. Those who would prefer relatives to be updated by staff will have this documented and we will endeavour to contact daily to provide an update.
Parking
Our patients may not always be able to be treated within the maternity unit. This means that they may be transferred to different wards during a single inpatient stay, and we will always endeavour to update the patient’s nominated contact of this.
Entertainment
Most wards have access to Wi-Fi on NHSWi-Fi, however there are some connectivity issues on Wheal Fortune.
Laptops and mobiles are allowed (if users are respectful of other patients – it’s a good idea to bring headphones and label devices clearly). We ask that you ensure any chargers that you may bring for devices are in a good working condition, so as not to cause a fire.
Patient Experience
We are passionate about patient experience and we want every one of our patients, and their relatives, to receive the best possible service when being treated at, or visiting, our hospitals. We take all feedback seriously and will take action where appropriate. Please see the Patient Experience section for further details.
Page last reviewed: 1 March 2024
