Oswestry maternity services suspended for two weeks over safety concerns

The unit will be closed until February 25 to ensure the "safe care of mums using Shropshire’s maternity services", the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust said.

In a statement, the trust said: "Our mums are choosing to have their babies in our Consultant-led unit over our rural MLUs, such as Oswestry.

"To protect their safety during the birth, we are having to look to temporary closures to allow staff to follow our mums’ decisions.

"To remove the uncertainty surrounding the units at Oswestry, Bridgnorth and Ludlow, the reluctant decision has been taken to suspend services at Oswestry for a longer period."

The unit has already had to temporarily close twice this week due to staff sickness.

Safety

Since full services resumed at the units on January 1, just two per cent of births have taken place at the rural MLUs, with 10 mums delivering their babies there, compared with 474 at other units (Shrewsbury MLU, Wrekin MLU and the Consultant-led unit at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford).

Sarah Jamieson, head of midwifery at SaTH, said: “Despite a successful recruitment campaign which allowed us to reopen our rural MLUs for births at the start of the year, our service continues to see mums choosing the Consultant-led unit over rural MLUs.

“We know that the subject of our MLUs is an emotive one but this decision, which we have not made lightly, is purely about the choice our women are making and about maintaining their safety.

“With 98 per cent of women giving birth away from our rural MLUs, it is important that our midwives are where our mums are.

“By taking this step, we aim to remove the uncertainty that short notice suspension of services causes. Women will still have the choice of giving birth at four other MLUs as well as our Consultant-led unit. Home births will also be maintained during this period.”