Tories release worrying figures on maternity unit closures
March 20, 2008
Figures released this week show that more than 40% of the 103 trusts that responded to a survey, had to shut the doors of their maternity units or divert women to other sites at least once during 2007, with one trust reporting 28 closures. The results of the survey, carried out by the Tories, suggested that larger maternity units were more at risk of having to close. Of those trusts that had to turn women away, 74% had more than 3,000 births last year. Responding to the figures, the Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley criticised the tendency towards concentrating maternity services in larger units at the expense of smaller ones.
Entry Filed under: England, Parliamentary update, Pregnancy and birth. Tags: birth, NCT, Conservatives, Maternity units, labour, reconfiguration.
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Mary Newburn | March 20, 2008 at 4:01 pm
The figures released today are unacceptable. The unscheduled closure of maternity units has a major impact on women and their partners. Parents lose all sense of control when the unit at which they have planned to give birth has been closed and it’s a major cause of anxiety.
These figures also highlight that it is impossible for women to make choices about place of birth if hospitals cannot be relied upon to be open when needed. If women are to have their choice of place of birth guaranteed by 2009, as promised by the Government, it is vital there is sufficient capacity to provide care for women who have booked a service.
If a maternity unit closes more than once a year, the NCT believes the service is either not well managed or insufficiently resourced to deal with the peaks of demand. If this is the case, urgent attention should be paid to the causes of the problem and a plan drawn up to prevent closures happening in future