SOLIHULL Hospital’s maternity unit will close to all deliveries for up to two months ahead of its controversial downgrading, bosses have revealed.The closure is expected in the coming months to train staff ahead of the hospital accepting midwife-led births only from about April.
Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust announced this month that doctor-led births would be axed from the hospital – before a planned public consultation.
It said staffing levels were not safe enough to guarantee resuscitation of newborns, further spurred by death that led to a coroner to call for the service to be reviewed.
The trust said women booked to give birth during the closure are being contacted by midwives to ‘explain the options available’. They can choose other hospitals.
It also revealed the changes will have a knock on affect for women needing planned gynaecology care.
It said: “The Trust is keen to take part in the consultation process and will honour the outcome.
“The changes being put in place are temporary and are being made to ensure safety for moms and their babies.”
The consultation is likely to take place after the General Election – mooted for May –
‘to ensure that a full and open dialogue can take place’ it says.
Conservative Maggie Throup is a high profile opponent of the plans. She hoping to regain Solihull for the party from Liberal Democrat Lorely Burt.
The news was announced in a lengthy Q&A on the trust’s website as fury grows over the downgrading, which could be permanent following the consultation.
It also reveals that internal changes will be made at Solihull, Heartlands and Good Hope hospitals to accommodate the new model. No cost is given.
And high risk gynaecology patients face having to go 19 miles to Good Hope Hospital under the changes, which also mean more planned patients will come to Solihull.
Only low risk births will be allowed at Solihull. The Q&A says that if a women needs a doctor during labour then an ambulance will be called.
It says: “This is the same as any emergency where the ambulance service responds within eight minutes of the call.”
Ambulance bosses have to get to 75 per cent of calls within eight minutes. Latest figures, for April to November, show this happened 66.1 per cent of the time in Solihull, not mentioned in the Q&A.
Questions are also remain over job losses. The Q&A says no jobs will go during the temporary changes: “Any change will only be made permanent after a full consultation process.”
It reiterates the trust’s view that the hospital can no longer operate in light of new Government and professional guidance.
Last week Meriden MP Caroline Spelman accused the trust of not following national guidance that states units must be within 30 minutes of a specialist doctor.
Other hospitals are this close, she said.
Yet the Q&A says there must be access to ‘advanced paediatric resuscitation’ within 10 minutes.
It denies the move is to save cash and says it driven by staff concerns.
Click here for more stories on the issue. Solihull Care Trust has also published a detailed 88-page report on the issue. Click here to download.
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