Maternity unit to close due to staff shortages

A hospital is planning to temporarily close its maternity unit because of serious staffing shortages.

North Devon District Hospital (NDDH) in Barnstaple, Devon, said it faced not having enough consultant and medical cover to safely continue delivering babies there after 11 August.

The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, said it would continue to "explore every available opportunity" to avoid suspending the service.

Chief medical officer Vanessa Purday said she could not give a definite date on when the maternity unit would reopen.

She said: "What we can say to our women and families, who are clearly anxious and worried by this decision, we are working hard to reopen as quickly as we can.

"We are working very hard to put plans in place for all women who we know are expected to deliver in the coming weeks.

"We are reaching out to each woman individually to make sure we have a personised plan in place.

"We understand their concerns, we understand their geography, their location, what childcare issues they have, transport risks, and we'll be putting some wraparound care to make sure we support each woman."

In an interview with the BBC, she said she was "confident" ambulance services could be "safely managed" following concerns paramedics could be diverted as a result of the closure.

She denied financial reasons were behind the closure and blamed "critical staffing shortages".

"Money is not the issue here," she said.

She said it was an "enormous decision and one we feel the weight of in our community" but the hospital trust was "extremely concerned" about staffing levels at the NDDH.

The trust said it could not guarantee that "women would consistently have access to the level of senior medical support during labour they may require".

Purday said it had relied on locum and agency staff for some time, and that recent staff shortages and absences had "tipped the balance into it being unsafe to continue beyond 11 August".

She said maternity teams at North Devon District Hospital and the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital had "worked so hard and held this service together for many months, working extra and longer hours to ensure our families got the care they needed".

But, despite efforts to fill gaps in the rota, the trust has been unable to secure enough medical staff from August.

Hospital leaders stressed the move would be temporary and said work was already under way to reopen the unit as soon as possible through recruitment and training.

Maternity teams have started contacting pregnant women in order of their due dates and clinical priority to discuss birth plans.

Those who were already more than 34 weeks pregnant were being contacted first, staff said.

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