Births at Cheltenham hospital 'must be restored', says MP
“We will all understand and appreciate the need to put safety first. That cannot be compromised"
The “temporary” closure of a maternity unit in Cheltenham cannot be used as an excuse to end forever the option to give birth at the spa town’s hospital.
That is the view of MP Max Wilkinson who is calling on hospital bosses to reveal its future plans for the Aveta Birth Centre.
He says their plans must include the restoration of labour and births at the hospital.
The birth centre was closed temporarily in 2022 due to staff shortages and a need to ensure safety, according to hospital bosses.
But Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has since focussed on recruitment and hired the equivalent of 25 full time midwives.
However, despite the increase in numbers, they say a review will be conducted before any decision is made on reopening the Cheltenham service.
The town’s Liberal Democrat MP Max Wilkinson agrees that safety must come first.
But he is adamant that the option for giving birth at a Cheltenham hospital must be restored.
“We will all understand and appreciate the need to put safety first. That cannot be compromised,” he said.
“However, the ‘temporary closure’ of the Aveta Birth Centre is a hangover from the previous government’s mismanagement of the NHS and it cannot be used as an excuse to end forever the option to give birth at Cheltenham’s hospital.
“The Trust has been clear that the closure was about midwife staffing levels and now it says those staffing levels have been restored.
“Consequently, the Trust must now let us all know its plans for what comes next. That absolutely must include restoration of labour and births at Cheltenham General Hospital.”
Hospital bosses said recently that while the number of births in Gloucestershire is declining, the complexity of care has increased.
And they will conduct a health needs assessment of the county’s maternity service later this year before making any decision on reopening the birth centre in Cheltenham.
“The decision to temporarily close Aveta was taken in April 2022 in response to significant staffing concerns and a need to ensure safety,” an Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson previously said.
“This work is succeeding and we have added the equivalent of 25 full-time midwives to our service since April 2022.
“It is important to recognise though that midwives are just one part of the team that support women and babies, and we are currently focussing on recruiting additional obstetricians also to support the growing number of women who require medical support.
“It’s also important to note that many of our new midwifery colleagues are newly qualified and we have worked hard to put in place further training and supervision as part of their induction with us.
“We know that in recent years the number of babies born in Gloucestershire has fallen but the complexity of care has increased – more women are having caesarean sections now than ever before is just one example of this.”