Flooding leads to closure of labour unit
Expectant mothers were left with a 15 mile journey to deliver their babies after part of the roof of the maternity department at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital was damaged by flooding.
The hospital's maternity unit closed at 5pm on Monday and hospital bosses said it would reopen at 8am on Tuesday.
However, works took longer than expected and despite the hospital saying it would reopen 'as soon as possible' it has now been announced that a full service at the unit will only resume at midday today.
Maintenance staff have been working to discover the extent of the damage to the roof and their investigations have taken longer than expected.
All women who are due to have their baby have been notified by hospital staff, and calls have been diverted so that women could still have 24/7 access to a midwife.
Ladies in labour have been told to make their way to either Wrekin Midwife Led Unit or the Consultant Led Unit at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.
Sarah Jamieson, head of midwifery at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), said: “We would like to apologise for this unpredictable short term closure and that the repairs are taking a short while longer than initially anticipated.
“The Trust’s maintenance team are working with us to ensure repairs are carried out in the shortest time possible to ensure services are up and running fully.”
It is understood the flash flooding was caused by heavy downpours which have affected parts of Shropshire in recent days.
Richard Jones, senior communications specialist for SaTH said: "Final checks were being carried out yesterday morning before the unit could reopen. The unit will reopen as soon as possible. The flooding was caused by the amount of rain we have seen in recent days."
More than 5,000 babies are born in Shropshire each year and these are split between the two main hospitals, the midwife led units and home births.
