Birthing services to resume as Shrewsbury MLU relocates

Mums-to-be will be able to deliver their babies at Shrewsbury Midwife Led Unit (MLU) when it relocates next week.

The MLU is being relocated to another part of the Copthorne Building at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) to allow further repair work to take place after last month’s heavy snowfall caused damage to the roof.

Birthing and other inpatient services were suspended on 11 December, although the MLU remained open for outpatient services including day attendees, hearing screening and the registrar.

Since repair work began earlier this month, further issues with damage to the roof have been discovered. To allow the roof to be fully repaired, on Monday services, including Early Pregnancy Assessment Service (EPAS) and antenatal services, will be temporarily moved to the currently vacant Ward 20 in another part of the Copthorne Building.

The relocation means that women will again be able to give birth at the MLU from Tuesday.

Sarah Jamieson, Head of Midwifery at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the MLU, said: “When it became clear that we would need to temporarily relocate our service to allow further repair work, we sought to identify an area that would allow us to restore the birthing option for our mums-to-be.

“Unfortunately, the nature of the area we are moving into means we are unable to offer postnatal beds until the repair work is completed.

“I would like to say a big thank you to our midwifery teams and our colleagues from our Estates department for making this possible.

“I would also like to reiterate my thanks to the women using our service while these vital repairs are carried out.”

The relocation of the MLU will take place in two phases on Monday. Birthing services will be available for women from Tuesday morning.