Six-month maternity unit closure putting lives at risk, says Shropshire councillor

Health bosses at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust decided at a board meeting last week that the midwife led units in Oswestry, Bridgnorth and Ludlow will be closed for up to six months from July 1.

They said the closure was to make sure that Telford's Princess Royal Hospital's consultant-led unit could be safely staffed.

There has been a large public backlash to the closures over recent months, with short term closures put down to a shortage of staff at all three units.

Conservative councillor for St Oswald in Oswestry, Joyce Barrow, has slammed the decision, and said the after care given in the town's unit is invaluable.

She said: "I feel strongly about this, I am mortified by what they are trying to do.

"My daughter had a baby last year, not in Oswestry, but the after care she received at Oswestry was amazing.

"It would have been very, very traumatic had she not had the service she did there.

"I don't think you can put a value or a price on the service they give.

"I am mortified about it, not just there but with the closures on the other units as well."

A host of councillors and politicians have spoken out against the closures in recent weeks.

Shropshire Councillor for Ludlow East, Tracey Huffer, who is a practicing nurse said last week the closures were "disgusting" and accused health bosses of having no consideration for the emotional impact on young mothers.

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

A march from Oswestry to the maternity unit located at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital will take place on Sunday, and Councillor Barrow has pledged her support and said she will do what she can to help prevent the closures.

She added: "I will be speaking with the council's health portfolio holder, and I know we have a meeting with the MP's next week where I will be speaking on this.

"The service they provide is invaluable.

"If mothers had to go to Telford for their care and to give birth, with all the roadworks at the moment it would be putting lives at risk, it would take a long time to get there.

"I am backing this to stay open, and I will be at the march on July 9."