Interim measures for Shropshire's Midwife-Led Units approved

Proposals to temporarily suspend services at Midwife-Led Units (MLUs) in Bridgnorth, Ludlow and Oswestry for between three and six months were approved today.

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) has faced a combination of short-term and long-term sickness in recent months, as well as a significant fall in the number of midwives prepared to work overtime or temporary bank shifts to cover for colleagues at times of sickness. This led to some significant challenges in their ability to fully staff teams at all the maternity sites, all of the time.

The factors meant existing staff were deployed in different ways to make sure there is safe staffing levels in units and sufficient staff where they are needed most. As a result, and due to the trust's need to move staff between different units to get the right cover in place, there has been an increase recently in the number of times that services have had to be temporarily suspended at our MLUs at short notice.

Today’s SaTH’s Board received a report explaining that action needs to be taken to make sure the trust can sustainably provide the right complement of staff to safely look after the women using the service at its Consultant-Led Unit.

The Board approved a report to temporarily suspend services at Bridgnorth, Ludlow and Oswestry MLUs for between three and six months from 1 July 2017. This decision will remove uncertainty about whether an MLU will be closed at short notice.

The Board agreed to:

- Review the decision after three months

- Write to our clinical commissioners to ensure it doesn’t pre-empt the outcome of the Midwife-Led Unit review that the commissioners are carrying out

- Ensure meaningful engagement with service users, stakeholders and staff to help shape the service pending the outcome of the review being led by commissioners

The proposals were put forward on safety grounds to ensure safe staffing levels. The trust says it is not about the competence of staff but the ability to ensure safe numbers of staff.

The following services are affected:

- Bridgnorth Midwife-Led Unit (inpatient services including the delivery suite for births and postnatal ward)

- Ludlow Midwife-Led Unit (inpatient services including the delivery suite for births and postnatal ward)

- Oswestry Midwife-Led Unit (inpatient services including the delivery suite for births and postnatal ward)