Bosses move to reassure Shropshire mums over maternity unit closures

Jo Banks, women and children's care group director at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said she wanted to reassure pregnant women and the wider community, that there were no hidden motives behind the recent closures.

Concern has been expressed publicly that the closures have been related to more than just staffing, leading to speculation about the future of the midwife led units.

It comes after thousands joined a campaign opposing a possible downgrade of Oswestry's maternity unit into a birthing unit and mothers in Ludlow called the overnight closures a "disgrace" and said they feared it could be taken as a sign to be further concerned about the units' long-term prospects.

Ms Banks said: "Similar to other parts of the Trust, we continue to experience high levels of demand for our Maternity Services, and have also experienced unexpected staffing issues, mainly caused by illnesses, similar to those experienced by the public in recent weeks.

"This has impacted on our ability to provide a full range of services.

"During these times we follow our policies and procedures to take action to ensure the continued safety of the service for women in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and mid Wales.

"Unfortunately in recent weeks this has meant that on occasions we have had to temporarily suspend inpatient services at our MLUs overnight; whilst maintaining community care and home deliveries. This is nothing new. We have had to do this in the past at times of high demand for our services and staff issues, such as illness.

"We never take such decisions lightly and we review all risks to ensure the safety of the women using the service. I'd like to apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.

"I'd also like to reiterate that there is nothing more to it other than staff illness and high demand within our consultant led unit."

The closures, from 8pm until 8am, affected Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury midwife led units on December 25, Oswestry midwife led unit on December 29 and January 9 and and Ludlow midwife led unit on December 31 and January 5

Any women who had chosen to deliver at the affected unit, and who were likely to give birth in the near future were contacted to inform them and offer an alternative location to give birth if they went into labour.

During the closures midwives were still available on call for home births.

Women booked to give birth at the units who went into labour during the temporary closures were offered a home birth or birth on another unit.

If any women due to give birth at the units during the affected times required support overnight they were able to access a Midwife as usual.