Battle over future of West Midlands maternity services rages on
In Birmingham, Coun Deirdre Alden, who is chairman of the council’s health scrutiny committee, is concerned the effect changes will have on city hospitals, putting extra pressure on maternity wards that already have high occupancy rates.
“The scrutiny committee will be looking at proposals closely to see how they impact on health of women in the area but we are concerned that they come as there is a consultation on merging Solihull and Heartlands maternity services at the same time,” said Coun Alden.
“I am anxious that changes on both the east and west of the city will have an impact on other hospitals like the Women’s.”
Pressure is growing on neonatal care to be close to maternity services with latest figures showing premature births have increased by 16 per cent over the past 25 years.
Half the number of babies born early now survive due to medical advances while high blood pressure is the main factor linked to early labour, while diabetes was recognised as playing an increasing role in research by Edinburgh University.
The number of babies born prematurely increased from 54 per 1,000 births between 1980 and 1985 to 63 per 1,000 births between 2000 and 2005.
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Sandwell and City Hospitals
Final options on controversial proposals to re-configure maternity wards across Sandwell and City hospitals have been drawn up for public consultation.
Latest reports show three proposals are to go out to the public - all of which will see births at Sandwell Hospital, in West Bromwich, dramatically drop with more expectant mothers taken to City Hospital, in Winson Green, to give birth instead.
Staff, families and health watchdogs will be allowed to give views over Christmas in a 12 week consultation.
Sandwell Primary Care Trust, which is overseeing the maternity services review for Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, which runs the two hospitals, has come up with three options, of which one will be carried out until the new hospital opens in Smethwick by 2015 at the earliest.
There are currently 2,645 births at Sandwell Hospital every year but that will be reduced to zero for options 1 and 2 or 400 births if option 3 goes ahead.
But City Hospital is expected to see births rise from the current 3,752 up to as high as 6,728.
The options are:
Option 1 - Transfer all births and consultant activity to City Hospital and retain low risk midwifery-led antenatal services at Sandwell and City Hospitals including routine scans. There would be no births at Sandwell Hospital and all antenatal clinics with consultants would transfer to City Hospital concentrating all high risk care to one site.
All Neonatal care would be provided at City Hospital.
Option 2 - All births, in-patient maternity care, neonatal care and antenatal services at City Hospital.
A small number of Consultant antenatal clinics would remain at Sandwell Hospital along with a full range of midwifery antenatal services including routine screening. There would be no births or inpatient maternity care at Sandwell Hospital.
Option 3 - All consultant-led care and neonatal care plus in-patient services and births would transfer to City Hospital. A stand alone midwifery-led birth centre would be developed within Sandwell to enable midwives to carry out low risk births along with antenatal care and routine screening in Sandwell as well as at City Hospital.
A proposed public consultation looks likely to take place between October 12 and January 18 next year.
Solihull/Heartlands and Good Hope
Plans to no longer carry out ‘high risk’ births at Solihull Hospital’s maternity unit are being discussed and expected to go out to public consultation over the Christmas period.
The changes would mean no consultants would practise from Solihull and pregnant women who give birth prematurely or who have difficult labours would be transferred to either Heartlands Hospital, in Bordesley Green, or Good Hope, in Sutton Coldfield, six and 19 miles away respectively.
Consultants are currently paged by midwives at Solihull when extra support is needed for more complicated births, but this on-call system is to end under proposals.
Managers at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, which runs all three hospitals, said the plans should come into force from April next year.
They added that only a quarter of the 2,700 births a year, of around 650, at Solihull are expected to go ahead.
Exact options for a public consultation have not been revealed as yet.
