MP fights for future of birth centre in meeting with NHS boss
Melton’s MP has demanded that NHS bosses come up with a plan to ensure St Mary’s Birth Centre reopens after the recently-announced six-month pausing of births in a face-to-face meeting with the leader of the local health trust.
The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) said it needed to suspend key maternity services at the town’s baby unit from July 7 because of a significant staff shortage and a fall in the number of women giving birth there.
Campaigners fear the Thorpe Road birth centre may never reopen with long-term plans approved to relocate its services to Leicester as part of its aim to consolidate the county’s maternity services at city hospitals.
Those plans have been delayed with the change in government and Melton MP, Edward Argar, is adamant the baby unit must reopen following the six-month pausing of births.
He met the UHL chief executive last week at which he said ‘I was clear that this period must be used to come up with a clear plan to improve staffing levels and to better advertise St Mary’s Birth Centre to expectant mothers to increase usage, not for them to plan for eventual closure’.
Writing in his latest column for Thursday’s Melton Times, Mr Argar stated: “I’m grateful to the chief executive of UHL, Richard Mitchell, for meeting me so swiftly, for listening, and for agreeing to consider my asks of him: to work up a plan to get staffing where it needs to be; to increase use of the centre; and to meet with those affected and ensure those already booked in to give birth there are listened to and supported.
"I will continue to work with local people, and the campaigners who for so long have championed the Birth Centre, to press for this important local service to be reopened as swiftly as possible.”
Save St Mary's Birth Centre, which has campaigned to save the unit from closure in the past and is now rallying support for a fresh fight, hosted a ‘virtual meeting’ on Friday evening, where interested parties were able to join via Teams.
Helen Cliff, one of the campaign team, told the Melton Times: “There is growing support and renewed appetite to fight the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust on both the short-term and final closure, or relocation, of our free-standing midwife-led unit in Melton.
"We are starting talks on organising some form of physical protest in response to several comments and messages from followers of our Facebook page.”
When they announced last week that births would be paused and postnatal services suspended at St Mary's Birth Centre, UHL said that there were serious staffing issues with about 30 per cent of the community team unavailable due to maternity leave, sickness, or planned absences.
The trust said birth numbers were declining – there were 92 at Melton’s baby unit last year – and that more women were presenting with complex needs that required closer obstetric or neonatal support, meaning fewer are eligible to use standalone midwifery units like St Mary’s.
Follow https://www.facebook.com/savestmarys for updates on campaigning activities for the birth centre.