Shropshire's three midwife-led units to close for up to six months

Bridgnorth, Ludlow, and Oswestry midwife-led units (MLU), will be closed for up to six months from July 1, health bosses have said.

At a meeting of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust’s board held in Shrewsbury yesterday, health officials said the closure was due to making sure Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital’s (PRH) consultant-led unit can be safely staffed.

A shortage of staff at the trust has meant the three MLUs have all faced short-term closures in recent months.

Currently the consultant-led unit at PRH is unable to provide one to one care during labour.

Deirdre Fowler, director of nursing, midwifery and quality at SATH, said: "The consultant-led unit sees about 85 per cent of births in the county.

"An increasing number of women are choosing to give birth at our consultant-led unit in Telford, rather than at our MLUs.

"In 2008/2009 MLU births, including home births, accounted for 26 per cent of our activity but in 2016/17 this figure has fallen to 13.1 per cent.

"However at 3am in the morning 33 per cent of our staff are in the MLUs, where there is less activity.

"These plans will release three midwives and three health care workers.”

The trust says a combination of short and long-term sickness, and "a significant fall in the number of midwives prepared to work overtime or temporary bank shifts to cover shifts at times of sickness" has made it difficult to fully staff its maternity sites.

Ms Fowler added: "In December 2016 we had a shortage of 40 shifts which our midwives covered by doing over time. That is not the case anymore - recently we had 60 shifts to cover and a 30 per cent drop off in staff prepared to do over time.

"It has also been a real challenge to recruit recently.

"Currently we have been unable to provide one to one care during labour which is a concern.

"We have seen an increase of complexed women attending the consultant unit – more older women and more women with high BMI's or who smoke. These women need one to one care and we currently cannot deliver it

"The temporary closure should give us time to come up with an interim solution, while a longer term sustainable solution is being worked on."

Tracey Huffer, Shropshire Councillor for Ludlow East and a practising nurse, said: "This is disgraceful. This is disgusting.

“SaTH says that the closure will not affect the ongoing review of rural maternity units. I don’t believe that.

"There seems to have been no consideration of the emotional impact on young mothers at an incredibly stressful time of their lives."

During the duration of the closure women who have chosen to give birth at the MLUs will be able to access a midwife and will be offered a birth at an alternative MLU location, such as Shrewsbury or Wrekin MLU.

Alternatively they will be able to choose the consultant-led unit at PRH or a home birth if appropriate.

The trust says that midwives will remain available for advice 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week.

Antenatal and postnatal services at Bridgnorth, Ludlow and Oswestry MLUs will still be available from 9am-5pm.