Efforts ongoing in reopening birthing unit

Efforts are ongoing to reopen a birthing unit which has been shut for two years, a health chief has said.

The Aveta Birth unit in Cheltenham and six postnatal beds at Stroud Maternity Hospital closed in 2022 amid a midwife shortage.

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's chief executive Kevin McNamara said it was the authority's "first priority" to reopen Cheltenham's birth unit - but was unable to provide a timeframe.

Mr McNamara added that "further conversations" were needed about Stroud's postnatal beds, and the money could be spent on other services.

Midwifery was centralised to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in 2022 to ensure safe staffing levels and one-to-one care in labour and birth.

To bridge the staffing gap, the trust plans to employ an extra 20 midwives between now and February.

Speaking at a health overview and scrutiny committee on Wednesday, councillor Paul Hodgkinson said he understood staffing pressures. But, he said residents would want reassurance that services in Cheltenham and Stroud would reopen.

“At the moment there is no timescale,” Mr Hodgkinson said.

Mr McNamara told the meeting he was unable to provide a timeframe for when Cheltenham would reopen.

He added that they are “working hard on recruitment to get to a position where they can make a decision”.

An extra £1.8m to increase maternity staffing has been invested across the county since 2020, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr McNamara said he had met with the Stroud Hospital League of Friends and stated the aim to make it a important hub for maternity, but conversations about the model of care needed to be had.

He said: “They are postnatal beds. These are mums that don’t have a medical need to be in hospital.

“We don’t have that offering anywhere else across the county."

Mr McNamara added that there was also the issue around availability of funding.

He said: “Can we use that asset differently to support mums and families in Stroud?

"No decisions have been taken but that is part of the conversation we would like to continue having."

The county's maternity services have been ranked "inadequate" since 2022, when they were put under a special safety notice.

In 2022, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found a number of problems with maternity services in Gloucestershire, including medical practices not always being followed, some women not being properly monitored during labour, incidents not being investigated fast enough, and staff shortages.

The service was inspected again in 2023, and retained its inadequate rating and notice.

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