Women will give birth on side of A49 if birthing unit is closed, say campaigners

Under proposals put forward by Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning groups, women will no longer be able to give birth at the maternity units in Oswestry, Ludlow and Bridgnorth in the future.

The units in Oswestry and Bridgnorth could close completely.

And the midwife-led unit (MLU) in Ludlow could provide only ante- and post-natal care, seven days a week for 12 hours a day.

The plans are due to go out to public consultation.

If they go ahead, expectant mothers would have to travel to Telford or Shrewsbury to give birth, or give birth at home.

Gill George, chair of Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Defend Our NHS, said it would seriously put women at risk.

"It is an appalling situation," she said.

"It's a long, long journey to Shrewsbury or Telford, and that leads to the risk of women giving birth on the side of the A49 with no professional support.

"But then the other risk is that there is very solid research that shows for women with low risk pregnancies giving birth in an MLU is safer.

"Moving to a consultant led unit is going to put women at risk. The setting is just not appropriate to their needs."

Ms George said the changes were letting down people in rural communities.

"Rural communities are getting the brunt of cuts," she said.

"People think cuts are like the weather – there's nothing you can do, it just happens. But what lies behind the decision on cuts is a Government, and we need our MPs to get a fair funding deal for our area. People will end up paying with their lives unless we get funding sorted out.

"The NHS is underfunded nationally, but London catches a cold, Shropshire gets pneumonia."

Dr Jess Sokolov, clinical lead for the MLU review and deputy clinical chair of Shropshire CCG said: “The configuration of the MLUs we have now is what was in place when I moved to the county 30 years ago, but people’s needs have changed significantly over the years.

“We know from staff and the data that where there is low activity we often have too many staff, and where we have high activity, we need more.

“That means that we aren’t offering the best experience we can for ladies and their families around the county so we need to look at the changes we need to make.”