North Devon's maternity crisis returns to Parliament
Liberal Democrat MP Ian Roome warns that North Devon’s maternity crisis is a wake-up call for the NHS nationwide. With families already forced to travel hours to give birth, he argues that reopening Barnstaple’s maternity unit must be backed by permanent staff and a long-term plan to ensure it stays open for good.
I was utterly shocked to read recently that the NHS Alliance's Lead Director for Acute Care had told the Guardian that as many as twenty NHS Maternity Units across the country may be forced to close entirely.
It’s all very well looking at the numbers on a spreadsheet, but these are real communities and real families. North Devon District Hospital is the most remote acute hospital on mainland England, and around 200 women have already been made to travel up to two hours to give birth in Exeter rather than Barnstaple. I would not wish that on any other community.
Last week, I managed to secure an Adjournment Debate on Maternity Services in Parliament, which gave me the opportunity to once again press the Health Secretary on North Devon’s maternity crisis face-to-face.
We need to make sure that once the unit is ready to reopen, it stays open for good. Because reopening is not the same as recovery. A unit propped up by short-term locum cover can be suspended again as easily as it was the first time, so what matters now is long-term, permanent posts that people choose to take up and stay in.
These are issues I raised with the Government's Maternity Advisor, who kindly agreed to meet with me recently. It is clear that our experience is not an isolated failure. It is the tip of an iceberg, and it exposes structural weaknesses that run through maternity services nationwide. In the South West, Yeovil’s maternity unit closed last year after a staffing crisis, and it took almost a year to reopen in full. Now Barnstaple has suffered the same fate.
I am told privately by senior figures that there are other NHS Trusts around the country that are also perilously close to something similar.
The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce is due to publish its new action plan in December, and I want ministers to treat this sorry episode as a case study. The plan should set out clear national guidance on when a suspension of services is warranted and how it should be handled. It should also give particular attention to maternity services in remote and at-risk areas, where the margin for error is thinnest and the cost of failure, measured in miles and in risk, is highest.
There are also local levers which I am exploring to help tackle some of the root issues around recruitment. The Deanery decides where trainee doctors are placed, and I have written to senior officials at the one serving our region to ask whether trainees can complete their final years at North Devon District Hospital, as doctors who train here are far more likely to build their careers here.
As of last week, the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Trust reported that the Tier 2 registrar rota has been filled with two new permanent doctors, that a new locum consultant started last week, and that one candidate is in discussions for the final vacant post before its reopening requirements are met.
That is progress, and welcome, but I will keep pushing for answers until these posts are permanent and the unit is safe for the long term.
Finally, none of this would have happened without the people of North Devon making their voices heard. I want to thank the Maternity Matters campaigners and the Devon Antenatal Family Centre in particular, along with everyone who has signed, shared and written in.
Short of defending this country from attack, I cannot see any greater duty of the British State than ensuring the next generation can be born safely.