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Find out about NHS antenatal (pregnancy) care, including how to get it, when you'll have appointments and what happens at them.
You'll be offered appointments, including scans and tests, as part of your NHS antenatal care. Your appointments might be in different places, such as hospitals, GP surgeries or community clinics.
To start your NHS antenatal (pregnancy) care, you need to tell NHS maternity services that you’re pregnant. You can do this by referring yourself for NHS pregnancy care as soon as you know you’re pregnant.
This is so you can get support from a midwife to help keep you and your baby as healthy as possible.
Find out how to refer yourself for NHS pregnancy care
You’ll be offered at least 10 antenatal appointments if this is your first baby, and 2 ultrasound scans.
You'll have at least 7 appointments if you’ve given birth before. This is because you usually do not need as many appointments as your first pregnancy.
If you have a partner, they can come to appointments if you would like them to.
You can contact maternity services at any time during your pregnancy if you’re worried about your health or your baby’s health. You do not have to wait until your next appointment.
If you’ve referred yourself for pregnancy care and have not been given an appointment, contact local maternity services to ask for an appointment.
This is usually the first appointment you have with a midwife. It's sometimes called the booking appointment, and can take around 1 hour.
The midwife will ask questions about you and your health, so they can help plan your care based on your needs and preferences.
You can also ask questions and discuss any concerns.
The midwife will ask about:
They may also ask questions to check if they can offer extra support. This can include asking about domestic abuse, sexual abuse and female genital mutilation (FGM).
The midwife will give you information about:
The midwife will ask to check your blood pressure and test your pee (urine).This is to check for high blood pressure in pregnancy, the pregnancy condition pre-eclampsia and urine infections. You'll also be offered a blood test to check your blood group.
Your midwife will give you your maternity notes in an app, book or folder, or on a secure website.
Your notes have your pregnancy appointments and test results, and useful phone numbers like the maternity unit and early pregnancy unit.
Keep your maternity notes with you at all times until you have your baby. This is so healthcare staff can read about your pregnancy health if you need urgent medical care.
You'll be offered an ultrasound scan to check when your baby is due, check their development and see if you're having more than one baby. It's sometimes called the dating scan.
Screening tests can also happen at this scan, to check your baby's chance of being born with certain health conditions. For example, you'll be offered screening for Down's syndrome, Edwards' syndrome and Patau's syndrome.
It's your choice whether to have this screening.
The midwife will ask about your health and wellbeing, and answer any questions you have. They'll also:
You'll be offered an ultrasound scan to check your baby's development. It's sometimes called the  20-week screening scan.
If you have a higher chance of having gestational diabetes, you'll be offered testing for this between 24 and 28 weeks.
You'll have an appointment at 25 weeks if this is your first baby.
The midwife will ask about your health and wellbeing, and:
You'll be offered an appointment at 31 weeks if this is your first baby.
Find out about your options on the Best Start in Life website if you're 41 weeks pregnant or more.
Content last reviewed by the NHS: 17 April 2029
Content last collected from the NHS: 04 September 2026
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