A COUNCILLOR has branded plans to close a Lichfield maternity unit “a disgrace”.
The facility at the Samuel Johnson Community Hospital had initially shut temporarily during the Covid pandemic, but mothers have not been able to give birth there since.
But now health chiefs are consulting on plans for the unit’s closure to be made permanent.
Heather Johnstone, chief nursing and therapies officer at the NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board (ICB), said:
“I know that these units offer a unique birthing option suited to women with low-risk pregnancies.
“However, because they operate independently, they don’t have immediate access to consultant-led medical support such as anaesthetics.
“Also, in the year before their closure fewer than three in 100 of the babies in our area were born there.
“We also know that high-risk pregnancies are becoming ever more common, so we expect that in future even fewer women would choose to give birth in a smaller hospital without specialist support at close hand.”
A community campaign has already been launched in a bid to prevent the move, with residents urged to make their voices heard during the consultation.
Cllr Matthew Wallens, Reform UK representative for Lichfield City North at Lichfield City Council and Curborough ward at Lichfield District Council, said the permanent closure would hit the local community hard.
“Closing the unit at the Samuel Johnson is no more then a disgrace.
“It doesn’t help easing the NHS in any way, shape or form – and if you live in Lichfield or in the surrounding areas and you are pregnant that means you have to go to Burton, Sutton or Walsall if you don’t drive – and to be brutally honest it’s going to cost you a fair few quid, especially in a cost of living crisis.
“This is not what we need. Shame on the ICB.”
