Salford: Closing unit safest for babies

A hospital where maternity care is soon to be axed has become the first in the country to achieve the highest ratings for emergency and baby safety - reports the Manchester Evening News.

Staff at Hope Hospital in Salford have been given the coveted 'level three' safety ratings from the NHS Litigation Authority after a series of tough risk assessments.

They had to prove they have good safety policies in place, can deal with medical and maternity emergencies quickly and have improved care.

The unit is set to close by 2011 as part of a controversial shake-up of regional maternity care, but managers say staff decided to go for the gold standard to show local people the decision was not a reflection on the care they provide.

Politicians who fought to save the service commended staff for proving the unit was one of the best in Greater Manchester to have a baby - and say it makes the closure decision all the more disappointing.

Deborah Carter, the associate director of women's and child services, said: "I have to congratulate our staff, who have been working with uncertainty for years and - more recently - the knowledge their department will close.

"They made a huge effort to drive up standards to reach this very difficult target. They want people to understand the closure does not in any way reflect the level of care here."

Salford council leader John Merry, who led the campaign to save the unit, said: "I would like to congratulate staff for working hard to meet this very difficult target and demonstrating to local people they are receiving the very best care.

"This news makes the closure decision a bit more disappointing, but the skills the staff have built up will not be lost."

Almost 3,000 babies are born at Hope each year and its 12-bed special care baby unit and nine-bed neo-natal intensive care unit is one of the largest in the region.

Salford PCT is now considering funding a midwifery-led unit at Hope. Having level three status also means the trust is likely to save around £1m over the next three years - by paying lower premiums to cover itself against legal claims.

In the shake-up, maternity and children's inpatient care will be cut from 14 to eight sites at North Manchester, Stepping Hill, Tameside, Wythenshawe and Wigan, with super-centres providing intensive care for the sickest babies in Manchester, Oldham and Bolton.

Manchester: MP defiant over hypocrisy claims

Health minister Ivan Lewis has denied he is a hypocrite after supporting a shake-up which includes the closure of a maternity unit he campaigned to save - reports the Manchester Evening News.

Last year, the Bury South MP joined a march aimed at keeping full maternity and children's in-patient care at Fairfield General Hospital.

But he has now backed the decision of an independent panel to close four of Greater Manchester's 12 maternity departments, including Fairfield.

Mr Lewis called criticism a smear campaign and said it was unfair and untrue because he has always accepted doctors' arguments that the current system was unsafe.

He said that although he believes there is a strong geographical argument in favour of a full service for children at Bury, his constituents will benefit from the £60m investment that comes with the shake-up.

Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley claimed Mr Lewis had bowed to pressure from Gordon Brown to back the cuts.

He said: "This is an incredible U-turn by Ivan Lewis. Only a few months ago he was campaigning to save his local maternity services. Ivan Lewis has been squeezed by Number 10. Either that or he is indecisive in the extreme."

Maternity units in Trafford, Rochdale and Salford will also close by 2011 because of a shortage of specialist staff.

Sharron Entwhistle, from Fairfield Baby Lifeline Society, which led the support for the unit, said: "Ivan Lewis has supported us and we are grateful for that - as a result of our campaign we have won concessions.

"I don't think he is a hypocrite but as a health minister he should have a lot of influence and we believe he could have done more to help - whether he could have made more of a difference, who knows?"

‘5,000 midwives are needed’ to cope with increase in birthrate

Nearly 5,000 more midwives will be needed by 2012 if the Government is to meet its target for maternity services, the Royal College of Midwives said yesterday.

The college has increased its target from 3,000 because of a rising birthrate, which has exceeded government estimates, and a reassessment of present shortages.

The call came on the same day that a baby was born in the back of an ambulance after her mother was unable to give birth at her nearest hospital because there were not enough midwives on duty.

In April the Government published its blueprint for maternity services, promising women a choice of where to have their babies.

The RCM said at the time that the proposals could not be delivered without at least another 3,000 midwives. But it has now revised the figure upwards, arguing that many trends threaten to upset the Government’s plans.

There has been a 12.5% rise in the birthrate since 2001, but midwife numbers have risen by only 4.5% since 1997.

The RCM said that fewer midwives were being trained, and even those who did qualify found it hard to get jobs because of the cuts made to bring the NHS back into financial balance.

Nearly half of all midwives are due to retire in the next decade, the RCM said, but demand for their services is greater because births are becoming more complex.

Louise Silverton, deputy general secretary of the RCM, said: “We have real concerns about the Government’s ability to deliver because there are simply not enough midwives.”

Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust, which ran a £7.2 million deficit last year but is planning to break even this year, provoked a row by announcing plans to cut 600 jobs, a third of its workforce.

It also plans to cut all deliveries at maternity wards in Malton, Whitby and Bridlington in favour of a unit in Scarborough.

A lack of midwives at Malton Hospital forced Sally West, 36, to take a 26-mile trip to Scarborough. Malton is only three miles from her home and she had expected to give birth to her daughter there. Instead Phoebe was delivered in an ambulance in the car park of Scarborough Hospital.

Clive Milson, Phoebe’s father, accused hospital bosses of “gambling with people’s lives” and urged them to keep the units open.

“We were fortunate there were no complications.”

Rossendale: NHS cutbacks bombshell

Hospital campaigners are fearful of the effects NHS cutbacks will have in Rossendale, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson announced the bombshell news last Friday that he was approving the controversial recommendations of the Making it Better and Healthy Futures consultations.

And supporters of the campaign to retain full maternity and Accident and Emergency (A&E) services at both Fairfield Hospital in Bury and Rochdale Infirmary said they were shocked and devastated to lose their appeal.

Under the modernisation, Rochdale's maternity facilities will be downgraded and its A&E demoted to an urgent care centre, effectively leaving it as a cottage hospital.

Meanwhile, Fairfield will lose its maternity services and special care baby unit but keep its A&E facilities. It is predicted the changes will take up to five years to implement.

Former midwife Gladys Sandiford, a Rossendale councillor, was disappointed with the verdict and feared the impact on the Valley.

She said: "I just hope this doesn't lead to any avoidable deaths and that this has shown just how desperately important it is that we get at least an urgent care centre and midwife-led birthing unit in Rossendale."

Councillor Alan Neal said the loss of vital hospital services in Rochdale would have a major impact on those in the eastern end of the Valley

He said: "It's one thing if you have transport, but for those reliant on public transport it's going to have a big impact and my sympathy is with them."

Four maternity units to be shut for a service led by midwives

Plans to close "vital" hospital services in Greater Manchester that have been newly approved by the Health Secretary have been slammed by a local MP as likely to "cost lives" - reports The Times.

A review of NHS services ended yesterday with Alan Johnson’s endorsement of an independent panel’s recommendation to close maternity units at Fairfield in Bury, Rochdale Infirmary, Trafford and Salford Hope.

Salford will also lose its neonatal intensive-care unit.

The Independent Reconfiguration Panel has also backed plans to down-grade Rochdale’s A&E unit and end emergency surgery at Fairfield Hospital.

The changes are expected to happen within five years and are likely to mean more home births and deliveries in units staffed by midwives.

Paul Rowen, the Liberal Democrat MP for Rochdale, accused Mr Johnson yesterday of “wielding the axe” in Greater Manchester to cut costs.

Tens of thousands of people had signed a petition against the closure of the hospital’s maternity unit, he said. “I am furious that we have been ignored.”

The panel said that local NHS trusts should 'consider' creating stand-alone midwife-led units at Bury, Salford and Trafford. But the Royal College of Midwives said that midwifery staff might not cope with the work demands.

Ministers defended the changes. Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary and MP for Salford, perversely said that she was “very pleased” that her constituency was in line to have a stand-alone midwife-led unit, preferring to cling to that dim prospect while ignoring the fact that the unit at Salford Hope hospital will be shut down.

Back in December Ms Blears joined picket lines to protest over proposals to close that maternity unit at Hope Hospital, despite supporting the national policy on maternity changes. Yet now the axe has fallen, she appears to be welcoming the closure as good news.

“As a local MP I have made representations at every stage to ensure that babies can still be born in Salford, and this is still the case.” she said.

Certainly babies will "still be born", Ms Blears. The question is, what kind of care will they get as a result of these cutbacks?

Manchester: Midwives 'dismayed' at fewer units

Midwives have condemned the decision to cut maternity and children's care from 12 to eight hospitals in Greater Manchester and challenged health chiefs to reveal exact bed numbers - reports the Manchester Evening News.

Senior figures in the Royal College of Midwives are "dismayed' by the plans, which will mean babies will only continue to be born in hospitals in Trafford, Salford, Bury and Rochdale after 2011 if health chiefs decide to set up stand alone midwife-led units.

The RCM claim health chiefs `got their sums wrong.' Politicians in Bury, Trafford and Salford have also reacted angrily to the cuts.

But health chiefs defended the plans, saying they would create more beds and improve safety. There were no exact bed numbers available.

Dr Maria Barrell, director of the Royal College of Midwives, said she was speaking out against the plan to protect women's safety.

She said: "I am very concerned that the reduced capacity of Greater Manchester's maternity units will not be able to cope with the demand of an increasing birth rate.

"Midwives are already struggling to provide the quality of care that patients expect and deserve. The government says that extra investment will compensate for the closures, but it seems to me they're got their sums wrong."

Leila Williams, director of the Children, Young People and Families Network, the organisation behind the maternity review, said: "There will be more beds after these plans are brought in. The whole point of Making It Better was to improve the safety for women and children's services across the region."

Health bosses in Bury, Salford and Trafford are now considering the option of midwife-led units.

Edna Robinson, the chief executive of Trafford Healthcare, said: "We are obviously still disappointed that our services will alter. However we do still understand and support the principles of the changes.

"We are very excited by the prospect of establishing a Birth Centre at Trafford General."

Margaret Morris, Chairman of Salford Royal, said: "We are bitterly disappointed with this news.

"We have a track record in delivering high quality care through our maternity and neonatal services."

Coun Yvonne Creswell deputy leader of Bury Council said: "The decision to downgrade the maternity unit is devastating for all those people who fought so hard to keep it open.

"It will deny thousands of Bury resident's access to local maternity services and is nothing short of betrayal."

NHS maternity care 'is in crisis'

Fears over the standard of NHS services for expectant mothers were heightened last night after it emerged that the number of maternity beds has fallen by up to 40% in some regions - reports the Daily Telegraph.

The information, obtained from a parliamentary answer, said that since Labour came to power in 1997, there had been an 18% reduction in the number of maternity beds for every 100,000 people - equivalent to almost 2,000 beds in the past 10 years.

But in some strategic health authority areas, the drop was much more dramatic with reductions of 40% in north-west London and South Yorkshire.

There were 35% fewer maternity beds in the Leicestershire, Northants and Rutland area as well in the South-West Peninsula authority area since 1997.

Even in the County Durham and Tees Valley, where until recently Tony Blair had his constituency, the decline was 32%.

A Tory spokesman insisted that Labour could not claim that home births made up for the decline as Government figures showed that only 2% of women gave birth at home in 2006/07.

The answer also highlighted the relative lack of midwives, confirming that their numbers are not keeping pace with the number of live births.

Since 2001, the number of live births had risen by 12.5% but the number of midwives rose by 4.5%.

Post-natal depression hits 20% of mothers

The Daily Mail reports today that the rate of new mothers suffering depression has doubled to hit 20%.

The rise is being blamed on the distressing experiences suffered by many women during labour at over-stretched NHS maternity units all over the country.

The survey by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) shows the number of mothers of children up to a year old who have the condition is even higher - at 27% - and also found that the risk of becoming depressed was far higher for women who had a bad experience during the birth.

The survey showed that 41% of mothers with post-natal depression (PND) had endured a bad birth, compared to just 25% of all mothers surveyed.

Only 14% of PND mothers described their birth as good, compared to 37% of all mothers.

The RCM blames a shortage of 10,000 NHS midwives for the problem, as it makes it harder for hospitals to provide a good service to pregnant women. One of the main problems is mothers being left alone too soon after the birth.

Last week official figures showed there were 339 fewer midwives in the NHS in 2006 than in 2005, while the birth rate is rising. Maternity units in some areas are also facing closure, with ante-natal classes being cut or reduced.

Many maternity units could be stripped of consultant cover

More hospitals could be stripped of consultant-led maternity units under controversial new plans, according to the Yorkshire Post.

Instead more women will give birth in midwife-led units, with complex cases dealt with in specialist centres.

The switch provoked an outcry in Huddersfield last year when specialist maternity services were switched to Halifax, while further opposition has followed plans to end births at Malton, Whitby and Bridlington hospitals, centralising services in Scarborough.

Ministers have been accused of hypocrisy for opposing such closure plans, which conflicts with government policy.

Dame Karlene Davies, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, is quoted, saying: "Unfortunately, too many recent reconfigurations have led to midwifery care units being threatened with closure, thereby reducing the amount of choice women are able to exercise."

Salford: Blears branded ‘hypocrite’ in closure row

Cabinet Minister Hazel Blears was yesterday accused of hypocrisy after joining protests against the closure of the maternity unit of a hospital in her constituency – reports the Yorkshire Post.

The Labour Party chair insisted she supports the government’s plans to "reconfigure" services in the NHS but said this should not stop her from opposing a particular closure as a constituency MP.

The maternity unit as Salford’s Hope Hospital is slated for closure as part of a reorganisation of mothers’ and children’s services agreed earlier this month by primary care trusts (PCTs) in the Greater Manchester area.

The changes are part of a programme of reconfiguration of the NHS, which chief executive David Nicholson has said will lead to 60 closures – mainly of maternity and casualty units – in the coming years.

Campaigners at Health Emergency accused Ms Blears of riding on the back of local protests while being complicit in government policies which are driving closures.

"There are 29 hospitals up and down the country facing the immediate threat of cuts and closure to key services in 2007", said head of campaigns Geoff Martin.

"If the closure of maternity services is wrong in Salford its wrong in all those other parts of the country as well, and Blears should be piling on pressure to ditch the cuts policy or she should resign."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "This is astonishing behaviour from Hazel Blears – you cannot back a policy on the national stage and then campaign against it in your own constituency."

- Article contributed by: B.S., Hull