Minister in plea for Shropshire maternity services to resume

Ludlow MP Philip Dunne, who is also Minister for Health and second only to Jeremy Hunt, has met with Shropshire health chiefs to press for a return to normal service after units at Bridgnorth, Ludlow and Oswestry were closed this week, possibly for up to six months, due to ongoing staffing issues.

Mr Dunne said he was "surprised" at the move, which comes as a third large-scale march in support of maternity services took place yesterday, with hundreds of families and protesters turning out to walk from Oswestry town centre to the unit at the hospital on the town's outskirts.

Mr Dunne met the Simon Wright, chief executive of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, and head of midwifery Sarah Jamieson, calling for a return of services as soon as possible – and said he was assured there was absolutely no intention for the current closures to become permanent.

He said Mr Wright had told him the trust faced a combination of short term and long term sickness in recent months, and did not use agency staff for staff quality issues, so had decided temporarily to use midwives from the midwife led units to supplement staff at consultant led units.

Mr Dunne said: “Like many others, I was surprised to learn of SaTH’s decision to close our midwife led units at Ludlow and Bridgnorth for a period of between three and six months. So I arranged an urgent meeting with Simon Wright and Sarah Jamieson in Ludlow to press for resumption of services in both Bridgnorth and Ludlow as soon as possible.

"Mr Wright confirmed these closures are absolutely temporary in nature, and would help alleviate problems with long and short term staff sickness in the maternity team at the consultant led unit in Telford. This is a move purely to safeguard patient safety.

"I made clear that any such closures must also necessitate a commitment to resolving staffing issues, by recruiting more midwives as soon as possible. Mr Wright confirmed the trust is pressing ahead with recruiting more midwives immediately.

"Antenatal sessions will continue in both Bridgnorth and Ludlow, and expectant mothers with due dates during the unit closures will plan their deliveries with their midwife as many other mothers from south Shropshire who are planning to have their babies in the women and children's unit at the Princess Royal Hospital already so.

"The SaTH Board will be reviewing this decision after three months, so I will continue to press SaTH to ensure sufficient maternity staff are in place to be able to resume local maternity services in Bridgnorth and Ludlow as soon as possible.”

He said Mr Wright had subsequently written to the chief executive of Shropshire CCG, saying: “This is not about the competence of our staff but our ability to ensure safe numbers of staff.

"The proposals do not pre-empt the outcome of the midwife led unit review that our clinical commissioners are carrying out," he said.