Early pregnancy assessment unit
The Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit (EPAU) is based at Raigmore Hospital, Inverness.
The early pregnancy assessment unit provides a service:
0830-1530 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday (we are closed on Wednesday)
phone 01463 705 275
Outwith these times, contact your community midwife or Ward 4B (phone switchboard).
If you need an urgent review outwith these hours:
- contact your GP
- or dial 111 who may refer you to out-of-hours
- or attend A&E in an emergency
We are located in Zone 8 of Raigmore Hospital, just outside ward 9A.
About the assessment unit
On arrival at your appointment, our specialist nurse will ask you to come into the clinic room and do an assessment of your current symptoms and clinical condition. They will ask about your previous medical, surgical and pregnancy history.
You may be referred to the unit if:
- you are more than 7 weeks pregnant and less than 13 weeks pregnant and:
- experiencing vaginal bleeding (light to moderate spotting over 48hrs)
- experiencing abdominal pain, crampy in nature
or you have had:
- two or more previous miscarriages
- a previous ectopic or molar pregnancy
- an IVF pregnancy
- uncertain gestation with pain
We always ask you to come with a full bladder as we always try to do an abdominal scan first. If we are unable to get images this way it may be necessary to offer you a vaginal scan instead.
Depending on the result of your scan a care plan will drawn up with you.
We run an appointment system and will endeavour to keep to your appointment time. However, due to the nature of the clinic we can sometimes run late. Please allow at least 1 hour for your appointment.