North Devon District Hospital Raleigh Park Barnstaple Devon Credit: Alamy
AN NHS maternity unit in Devon has shut its doors due to “unsafe levels of medical staffing”.
NHS bosses have announced that the maternity unit at North Devon District Hospital (NDDH) in Barnstaple will temporarily suspend its birthing services from today.
The closure was initially announced at the end of July after a review of medical staffing levels found that the unit couldn’t safely remain open.
There were hopes, however, that this would not go ahead.
Sign up for the Health newsletter
Thank you!
But sadly, the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust – which runs the hospital – confirmed on Thursday that the temporary closure was happening despite “extensive efforts to maintain services”.
It said: “Every available option has been explored…however, after exhausting all available avenues and carefully reviewing staffing levels against clinical safety requirements, the Trust has concluded that a temporary suspension is the only safe course of action.”
PILL PERIL
Common painkiller risks blistering sunburn in hot weather – 3 rules to follow
WEIGH TO GO
New daily fat jab PILL approved in the UK and will be available in weeks
This temporary closure will now force women to travel some 55 miles to the next closest maternity unit at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.
The Trust has contacted over 300 women who are 34 weeks pregnant or more, as well as those identified as vulnerable or clinically high risk, to discuss their individual circumstances, care plans and the travel and transport support available.
Carolyn Mills, Royal Devon Chief Nursing Officer, said: “This was an exceptionally difficult decision to make.
“Our absolute priority is, and always will be, the safety of women, birthing people and their babies.
“We have worked tirelessly alongside our partners… to explore every possible option to avoid this outcome.
“Unfortunately, we have now reached the point where we cannot safely provide the level of medical cover required to continue births at North Devon District Hospital.
“We carefully considered the risks involved. While we recognise the additional travel this will mean for some families, we believe that concentrating services where safe medical staffing can be guaranteed is the safest option for everyone who relies on our maternity services.”
According to the Trust, the last planned inductions and c-sections took place on August 7.
And the last day the unit accepted women in spontaneous labour was August 9.
The temporary suspension of the maternity unit is in place from today, August 11, and it is unclear how long it will now go on for.
When the temporary suspension of births was first announced in July, Vanessa Purday, Royal Devon Chief Medical Officer, said, “This is an enormous decision and one we feel the weight of in our community.
“We are extremely concerned about our maternity consultant and medical cover at NDDH.
“The service at NDDH has been reliant on locum and agency cover for some time and recent additional staffing shortages and absence have tipped the balance into it being unsafe to continue beyond 11 August.”
The Trust said last week, however, that it had “already begun work to restore births at North Devon District Hospital as quickly and safely as possible”.
It explained that this temporary closure only affects births and face-to-face triage.
This means that other services like community midwifery, scans, birth planning, ultrasound clinics and antenatal outpatient clinics are still happening at the North Devon District Hospital.
Around 1,200 babies are born at the maternity unit every year.
Ms Mills said: “While this temporary suspension is deeply disappointing to our communities, we are fully committed to reopening birthing services at NDDH as soon as possible.
“A dedicated recovery programme is already underway, with intensive work focused on recruitment, workforce planning, staff retention and service resilience.”
A dedicated helpline for pregnant women and birthing people is available – 01271 335773, (9am-5pm, Monday – Friday) and the maternity triage line is available 24/7 for those who require urgent medical advice – 01392 406616.
It comes after an investigation in June revealed that more than 500 babies and mums were harmed or died during at least a decade of poor NHS care in Nottingham.
Commenting on the scandal, Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, said the NHS must have less talk and more action to improve patient care.
