Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury's maternity unit re-opens after flash flooding

A hospital maternity unit has reopened after flood damage but bosses say they will look at extended repairs to the building next year.

Published

Flash flooding led to the suspension of services at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital's midwife led unit at 5pm on Monday.

The unit reopened at noon today.

Sarah Jamieson, head of midwifery at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SATH), said that no equipment had been damaged but that the closure was the only decision to take for the safety of patients.

She said: "We would like to apologise for this unpredictable short term closure, but I am pleased that we have been able to ensure repairs are carried out in the shortest time possible to ensure services are once again up and running fully.

“The moment water started leaking through the ceiling and into one of the rooms at the MLU, following a heavy downpour of rain at approximately 4pm on Monday, we took the immediate decision to close the unit for the safety of our patients and staff.

“No equipment was damaged as a result of the flash flooding and the roof has now been fully repaired. A full assessment of the repair work was carried out this morning and a further risk assessment was conducted shortly before we re-opened to ensure we can once again start looking after our patients safely.”

The hospital said that all women who were due to have their baby during the period of temporary suspension were notified.

Calls were also diverted so that women had 24/7 access to a midwife.

Women in labour were asked to go to the Wrekin Midwife Led Unit or the Consultant Led Unit at Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford.

Mrs Jamieson said that further plans are being drawn up to improve the structure of the Shrewsbury MLU following a number of minor repairs in recent years.

She said: “Shrewsbury MLU has been subject to a number of repairs over recent years, but plans are being made to carry out a period of extended repairs to the building in spring/summer 2018 so we can provide improved local midwifery services for local people. We will inform the public about how we propose to implement the plans as soon as we have more information.”