Government urged to address 'workforce crisis' after births suspended at North Devon District Hospital
The remote hospital suspended births today (11 August) due to a "significant shortage" of doctors
Leading midwives are calling on the Government to urgently solve the “urgent workforce crisis”, after birthing services were suspended at North Devon District Hospital.
The remote hospital temporarily suspended its birthing services due to a “significant shortage” of doctors in its maternity unit.
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said that the suspension of births at North Devon District Hospital should “ring alarm bells”.
More than 300 women in north Devon have been contacted who are 34 weeks pregnant or more to discus “individual circumstances, care plans and the travel and transport support available”.
Concerns have been raised that women will need to travel 50 miles to Exeter to give birth – with journey times expected to take more than an hour and 20 minutes.
Hannah Leonard, RCM chief policy officer, said: “Any temporary suspension of maternity services is deeply concerning for the women and families who depend on them and for the midwives who are working tirelessly to keep care safe.
“When maternity units are forced to suspend services because there aren’t enough staff, it should ring alarm bells.
“This is something we are seeing this with increasing frequency for prolonged periods.”
She added: “The RCM has been campaigning and lobbying the Government on safe staffing in maternity for too long without enough change and the closure of maternity services is a stark impact of the growing staffing emergency in our maternity services.
“We cannot offer women genuine, informed choice about where and how they give birth without safe, reliable maternity services to support those choices.
“Unless we tackle the urgent workforce crisis, services will continue to be disrupted, putting further strain on an already stretched midwifery workforce.
“We need a robust multi-professional workforce plan with funding to deliver this and that should be a priority of the maternity and neonatal taskforce.”
A recent review into maternity care, led by Baroness Valerie Amos, called for urgent change to the way women and families are treated, after it concluded families have suffered from repeated failures in NHS care.
The review highlighted “persistent workforce pressures” with shortages, attrition, rota gaps, high absence rates and “too little” protected time for training, learning and improvement.
Sam Higginson, chief executive at Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust – which runs the hospital, said: “We have announced the change to our perinatal services here at the North Devon District Hospital for August.
“From Tuesday, we are planning for a temporary suspension of our birthing services here at NDDM.
“This decision was not taken lightly.
“It has been made following a thorough review of our medical staffing, but this has shown a significant shortage of obstetric medical staff over the next few weeks.
“We’ve therefore taken the difficult decision to suspend the service. This is a temporary suspension.
“We will continue to look at every possible option to avoid undertaking it.
“But because of patient safety, we must have a plan in place.
“Our priority is to ensure that those women due to give birth receive timely, accurate information about their options and are fully supported for making choices that are right for them.”
Reports suggest that doctors at the hospital have been given a “crash course” in birth emergencies after the temporary closure.
A Trust spokesperson said: “We have worked closely with colleagues in our Urgent & Emergency Department, Maternity services and SWAST to agree clinical pathways for managing emergency presentations by women and birthing people in North Devon.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “While these are decisions for the local NHS trust, we will expect clear plans to be in place to ensure mothers and babies are supported during this temporary closure, and for services to be back up and running as soon as possible.
“Any changes to services must be based on clear evidence that they will deliver better outcomes for patients.
“This year we have seen record numbers of doctors working in the NHS, with 12,000 recruited since July 2024, and 2,000 more midwives.
“This Government is determined to ensure safe, high-quality maternity and neonatal care across every part of the country, and we will ensure that is the case in Devon too.”