Shrewsbury maternity unit outpatient services to relocate next week
Outpatient services at Shrewsbury's midwife led unit will relocate next week for work to take place which will allow a new ward to open this winter.
The early pregnancy assessment service, antenatal and scanning will be provided from Mytton Oak House, based at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, from Monday.
The move will allow fire regulation works currently under way in the Copthorne Building, which houses the MLU, to continue.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the hospital, has been given a £1.6 million government loan to carry out the work.
It will allow a13 bed therapy-led ward, with an adjoining discharge lounge, to open in the Copthorne Building in the New Year, helping to free up acute beds over the winter months.
Inpatient services – births and postnatal care – at Shrewsbury MLU will remain temporarily suspended.
Anthea Gregory-Page, deputy head of midwifery at SaTH, said: “From Monday, outpatient services normally provided within Shrewsbury MLU will be provided from Mytton Oak House.
“We are moving on Friday and throughout the weekend, so any appointments during this time will be carried out in the community by our community midwives, with normal outpatient services resuming at 8am on Monday in Mytton Oak House.
“Any mums-to-be affected by the change, and who have any questions, can contact their midwife.”
The trust says part of the Copthorne Building is undergoing remedial works to rectify a number of historic issues, including fire regulation works, to bring them up to a modern standard.
It says the nature of the work means that it may be noisy and disruptive, and at times could compromise the privacy of some patients, so the decision was taken to suspend inpatient services while outpatient services remained.
The trust is continuing to work with Shropshire Council local authority building control to ensure that all works are done in accordance with regulations.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock also recently announced £4 million of winter capital funding for Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, which will allow the Wrekin midwife-led unit to move into a purpose-built modular building, next to the current consultant-led unit, in the New Year.
It will also allow the hospital to create up to 20 additional beds to ease pressure over the winter months.
The area freed up by the move will be used to create a ward which will cater for acute medical patients.
