Protesters mark unwanted milestone for North Devon maternity unit

Hundreds gathered in Barnstaple Square on Saturday (November 7) to mark an unwanted milestone as the closure of North devon’s maternity units approaches three months.

Organised by campaign group Maternity Matters, the gathering of up to 500 people including many local mums and mums-to-be was to highlight it is now three months since the Ladywell Unit at North Devon District Hospital was temporarily closed.

The Royal Devon health trust has said repeatedly it remains committed to reopening the unit safely and recruitment efforts for more senior doctors and consultants continue.

But in the meantime, some 250 women have given birth at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital as well as other further afield locations including Taunton.

Local mum Katy Quick, one of the protest organisers, said: “The strength of feeling from the local community was very evident as we gathered together.

“We heard stories from pregnant women who expressed their fear at the current situation with our unit still temporarily closed.

“We must ensure we continue to scrutinise the Trust but also put pressure on our government to fund rural, coastal hospitals fairly. Our unit must reopen safely, but it will remain fragile until the government reassesses their funding approach.”

The protest was also attended by North Devon MP Ian Roome, who has campaigned for the Ladywell Unit to reopen, pushed health trust bosses for answers and spoke at the demonstration.

He said: “"I was proud to attend and speak at the Maternity Matters protest and I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who came along.

“Seeing so many people there sends a really strong message to the trust. It’s so important that we keep the pressure on and I’m on it every single day. Three months on, mums-to-be in North Devon are still facing a journey of up to two hours to Exeter.

“That’s not good enough. I'm pushing for a full independent review into how our NHS Trust ended up in this mess and I won’t stop until births are back at Barnstaple.”

In a statement posted on Facebook on Saturday before the protest, Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said: “We understand why people are protesting and we share the strength of feeling about the importance of birthing services in northern Devon. Those protesting want to see a safe birthing service restored locally and so do we. We share the same goal.

“The decision to temporarily suspend birthing services was not one we took lightly, but we cannot provide the service unless we have enough appropriately skilled staff in place to keep women, birthing people and their babies safe.

“We know the temporary suspension continues to cause fear and anxiety for families and that some women and birthing people will not have the birth experience they had hoped for. We are sorry for the impact this is having and are listening to our community.

“We are continuing our work to recruit permanently to our consultant posts and have received positive interest, with a number of applications now being reviewed. This service is vital to all of us in northern Devon and we remain completely committed to bringing it back safely.”

The trust reminded people with any birth questions or anxieties to speak to their community midwife or call its dedicated maternity helpline on 01271 335773.

It also has a 24-hour maternity triage service on 01392 406616 if people have any concerns about their pregnancy or need urgent advice.