Upset over permanently closure of Leicestershire town’s only midwifery unit
The ICB is currently engaging users of the service to inform decisions going forward
Pausing services at a Leicestershire town’s only midwifery unit has been called a “sham” by local politicians after NHS bosses confirmed it was to permanently close down.
Residents of Melton are outraged following the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board’s (LLR ICB) announcement that they have no plans to continue births at St Mary’s birth centre.
The announcement, made last month, comes after University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust implemented a temporary six-month pause to all births last June while they decided the next steps.
Concerns included poor staffing and low usage, with 30 per cent of the staff unavailable and births dropping to fewer than two per week.
However, local politicians say the closure is but a cost-cutting measure and the consultation was a “sham from start to finish”.
Melton Borough Council leader Pip Allnatt (Labour), whose own family has made use of the St Mary’s birth centre, has hit out at the ICB’s handling of the site.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “I have no hesitation in saying that this decision is a cynical and long intended one aimed solely at cost reductions. It has nothing whatsoever to do with safety or choice. The so-called ‘consultation’ was a sham from start to finish.”
Other campaigners say the ICB’s handling of the situation signals “closure by the back door”.
Campaigner and councillor Helen Cliff, of Melton Sysonby ward (Labour), said: “It is our firm belief that the language of ‘temporary’ and ‘pause’ was always disingenuous and that our fears over the announcement last summer indicating closure by the back door, were in fact well founded.”
Following a Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) consultation in 2020, the decision was taken to relocate birthing services from Melton to a centre at Leicester General Hospital (LGH), which is around 15 miles away and has no post-natal ward.
In 2021, the stand-alone midwife-led unit was promised by UHL as part of the national New Hospitals Programme, but this has since been delayed by central government and the expected funding will not materialise until 2032.
In 2023, the ICB assured residents that St. Mary’s would not close until the new unit was open.
A local campaign group, Save our NHS Leicester, organised rallies in response to the pause last summer and now say ICB’s intention to close the site is a “betrayal” of previous promises.
Godfrey Jennings, group secretary, said: “While we accept that delays in capital funding have created challenges for our hospitals, we remain completely opposed to the abandonment of a stand-alone midwife led birth centre for the mothers of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
“Evidence shows that, for low-risk pregnancies, the outcomes for babies and mothers are very good at these centres. The loss of the postnatal beds is especially regretted given the importance of those beds, in particular, to mothers with additional needs.”
The closure of the centre, assessed as ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in 2023, means that the range of choices expected in a Trust area falls below that recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England.
Cllr Allnatt added that the decision to close the centre when officials are “years away” from a “reliable alternative maternity service” is “crass”.
He said: “It is the ICB which should be abolished, not our birthing centre. I urge our MP to reignite his questions in Parliament.”
The ICB is currently engaging users of the service to inform decisions going forward.
A spokesperson said: “We know how important this issue is for local families and NHS colleagues. Before we confirm how we will enact the consultation outcome made in 2021, we want to hear from those most affected by the pause at St Mary’s.
“This is what we are currently engaging people on and all this feedback will help us make sure the next steps are fair, transparent, and shaped by local voices.
“Our commitment to this is underlined by our response to initial feedback meaning we have now provided further engagement sessions and widened the scope of people taking part to ensure relevant voices and views are heard.”