Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit (EPAU)
The Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit (EPAU) is for patients in the early stages of pregnancy up to 16 weeks.
We are a nurse-led service which provides specialist care for women who have, or who have had the following:
- Vaginal bleeding and/or pain in early pregnancy up to 16 weeks
- A loss of liquor before 16 weeks (watery vaginal loss)
- A positive pregnancy test and a scan result showing a pregnancy of unknown location with pain, bleeding or other relevant symptoms
- A previous ectopic pregnancy (at six weeks gestation they can be referred for a scan)
- Recurrent miscarriages
- A previous molar pregnancy, not less than 8 weeks gestation.
Locations and contact details
University Hospital Lewisham
- Gynaecology Outpatient Department,Ground floor, Green Zone, Lewisham High Road, SE13 6LH
- Reception: 020 8333 3000 ext. 48710
- Email: lg.uhlepau@nhs.net
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
- Gynaecology Outpatients Department, Stadium Road, Greenwich, London SE18 4QH
- Reception: 020 8836 4897
- Switchboard: 020 8836 6000
- Email: lg.qehepau@nhs.net
How to get a referral
While this is not a standard maternity triage form, if needed you can self-refer to the EPAU by filling out our EPAU self-referral form.
If you wish to book your pregnancy care with the Trust, please instead fill out our maternity self-referral form.
You can also be referred by a healthcare professional, such as a doctor, midwife or advanced clinical practitioner, who will complete an electronic referral, or by your GP who will email us directly.
After we have received your referral and reviewed it, we will contact you by for an initial telephone assessment with a specialist EPAU nurse. They will advise whether you need to attend a booked appointment for a face-to-face assessment and/or scan.
We will often contact you on the same day, or the next working day if the referral is received after 3pm. It is likely that the caller ID will show as a private number or withheld number.
Urgent response
If you are experiencing heavy bleeding, severe pain, or feeling dizzy, please go straight to the Emergency Department. Do not wait to be called by the EPAU team.
When you attend the Emergency Department, you will be assessed by a doctor to see whether you need to stay in hospital and receive care as an inpatient, or whether you can be discharged and referred to to the EPAU as an outpatient.
If it is decided that you need outpatient care, the Emergency Department will send an electronic referral to the EPAU nurse, and you will be contacted either the same day or the next working day.
EPAU Frequently Asked Questions >>