About Us
The Pregnancy Clinic is led by Professor Ranjit Akolekar, who is an accredited sub-specialist in Fetal-Maternal Medicine and Obstetrics. The Pregnancy Clinic offers specialist, high-quality care to expectant mothers to ensure they get the best possible advice and support for their pregnancy. The ambition is to provide parents with accurate evidence-based information about the health and well-being of both babies as well as mothers. The Pregnancy clinic is located at Sevenoaks, Kent and Epsom, Surrey.
NHS Affiliation
Professor Akolekar is the Clinical Lead at the Medway Fetal and Obstetric Medicine Centre (MFMC) at the Medway NHS Foundation Trust in Kent which is a specialist unit offering tertiary-level care for high-risk pregnancies in Kent and Medway. The MFMC is a centre of excellence for managing pregnancies with fetal abnormalities and mothers with high-risk pregnancies. The unit has consistently demonstrated high detection rates for major chromosomal abnormalities such as fetal trisomies as well as major fetal defects. The centre also offers prenatal diagnostic procedures such as amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling as well as in utero therapeutic treatments such as fetal blood transfusions in pregnancies with fetal anaemia or shunt placements for fetal plueral effusions and bladder outflow obstructions. There are a series of specialist antenatal clinics in MFMC for management of high-risk pregnancies such as the Preterm Birth clinic, Placental Disorders clinic, Multiple Pregnancy clinic and Hypertension clinic.
Academic Affiliation
He is a clinical academic and researcher affiliated to the Institute of Medical Sciences at the Canterbury Christ Church University. He is actively involved in postgraduate medical education and helped set up a higher academic PhD degree course at the Canterbury Christ Church University for postgraduate medical trainees. He works with academic staff in the Faculty of Health and Well-being promoting education and research in high-risk Obstetrics and Fetal Medicine. He is the Lead for Obstetric ultrasound training at the School of Obstetric and Gynaecology in KSS Deanery and regularly arranges courses for ultrasound training in the deanery alongside a series of interactive regional study days for higher specialist trainees.
Research and Innovation
Professor Akolekar is the Clinical lead for Research and Innovation at Medway NHS Foundation Trust and regularly undertakes regional, national and international studies in Reproductive Health. He was previously the Lead for Reproductive Health and Childbirth division at the Clinical Research Network for National Institute of Health Research in Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Currently, he works with an vibrant team of research fellows and research midwives at MFMC who are actively engaged in delivering several key research studies. He regularly participates in prestigious national and international research studies supported by the Fetal Medicine Research Institute and funded by the Fetal Medicine Foundation that help to translate research evidence into clinical practice. He is widely published in several international peer-reviewed scientific journals. His main research interests include prediction and prevention of pregnancy complications such as fetal growth restriction, preeclampsia and vasa praevia with an emphasis on prevention of stillbirths.
The Pregnancy Clinic
The specialist private scans and appointments at The Pregnancy Clinic are carried out by Professor Akolekar and by a team of dedicated Fetal Medicine doctors, specialist midwives or sonographers all trained by him to a high standard.