Shropshire campaigners plan Mother's Day weekend maternity unit protest
Shropshire campaigners will use Mother's Day weekend to launch a peaceful demonstration to try to safeguard maternity units that helped to bring their children into the world.
Hundreds of parents have already backed the Save Oswestry Maternity Unit campaign and online petition, calling on health bosses to rethink their plans to reduce opening hours at the midwife-led unit (MLU) at the Orthopaedic Hospital, which they fear could lead to the closure of the unit.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is planning to convert the MLUs at Ludlow, Bridgnorth and Oswestry, to "birthing centres" which would not be staffed overnight, leaving women in labour to call the units to arrange for them to open.
Liz Grayston, a mother-of-four and organiser of the Save Oswestry Maternity Unit Facebook campaign, said: "The details of the protest haven't quite been finalised but it will be held on Saturday, March 25 – the weekend of Mothering Sunday and it will involve protests in Oswestry, Ludlow and Bridgnorth.
"The midwife-led unit at Gobowen is obviously a gateway into motherhood, providing a nice link.
"We will be encouraging people to bring their Oswestry baby, bumps or newborns and maybe even people born at the unit, who have grown into parents themselves, to the protest in Cae Glas Park, Oswestry, at 10.30am.
"We are coordinating with protesters in Bridgnorth and Ludlow, highlighting that the three units are needed in such a rurally-dispersed area. We will have copies of the paper petition to sign."
