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Midwives and maternity service managers met today to discuss the short term future of the inpatient birthing service at Andover Birth Centre (ABC).
After discussing different options to keep this aspect of the service running, it has been decided to continue with the planned suspension of births and postnatal stays at ABC.
The suspension starts with immediate effect and will continue until the new year.
However, staff at the centre presented the chief executive with a new staffing model which is now being worked on with a view to implementation early next year.
This means that the suspension – which does not affect antenatal, postnatal community care services and home births – will be shorter than initially anticipated.
These services will continue to be supported by staff from the ABC.
Chief Executive Martin Wakeley said: “The staff at ABC had a real challenge on their hands. I told them I wanted to secure the long term future of the birth centre but that it needs to be safe and sustainable in the short term because the service across the Trust is experiencing staffing difficulties.
He added: “If a birth centre could be run on passion and commitment alone, our maternity service wouldn’t have a problem! However, patient safety must be the priority and I have always been clear that the staffing levels and staffing mix must be right across the maternity service as a whole.”
Lesley Sharkey, senior midwife at ABC, said: “We understand that women who had planned to have their babies here will be disappointed. This short term suspension will enable us to test our new staffing plans and reopen our doors with a more robust and flexible workforce. We hope to welcome more women and babies than ever before.”
She added: “The support of the staff here and the local community, including GPs, has been fantastic.”
Based on current figures, around 25 women will now be offered a home birth or delivery at another hospital if the suspension last until mid January.
The proposed new model will involve maternity support workers staffing the ABC at night time with the support of two on-call midwives as well as assistance and advice from the maternity unit at Winchester. During the day a midwife will always be on duty, alongside the maternity support worker. What makes this model sustainable is that midwives will not routinely be working at night unless attending a labour. This means that pregnant women benefit because there is a greater degree of qualified midwife expertise available across the whole service.
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