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# Doubts raised over plan to bring maternity services back to Lichfield hospital
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/doubts-raised-over-plan-to-bring-maternity-services-back-to-lichfield-hospital/
- Published: 2022-10-12T06:04:00.000Z
- Updated: 2022-10-12T06:09:41.000Z
- Description: Maternity services may not return to a Lichfield hospital before the end of the year as planned, councillors had been told.
- Author: Lichfield Live
- Tags: Health, Politics, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 19:11, News

Maternity services may not return to a Lichfield hospital before the end of the year as planned, councillors had been told.

The midwife-led facility at the Samuel Johnson Community Hospital was taken out of action during the Covid pandemic.

Health bosses had put forward a plan to [reinstate an “on demand” maternity unit at the site before the end of the year](https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/lichfield-maternity-unit-set-to-reopen-before-the-end-of-the-year-as-on-demand-facility/).

But Cllr Mike Wilcox told Lichfield District Council’s overview and scrutiny committee last week that a county-wide meeting had thrown some doubt over that timeframe.

> “They are almost back-pedalling around the potential reopening of maternity services at Samuel Johnson Community Hospital by the end of the year.  
>  
> “The big problem they have is that are there are not enough midwives.”  
>  
> Cllr Mike Wilcox, Lichfield District Council

Other members of the overview and scrutiny committee said expectant mothers were being short-changed by the ongoing closure.

Cllr Diane Evans, Labour representative for Boney Hay and Central, said:

> “It is vital that the unit is kept. It was purpose built and it seems ridiculous that they then abandon it.  
>  
> “There must be midwives around that can be redirected to fulfil the needs of the people of this district.  
>  
> “If you’re in labour and are having to go up the A38 – particularly at the moment – it isn’t easy.  
>  
> “It’s not fair to put women in this situation.”  
>  
> Cllr Diane Evans, Lichfield District Council

Cllr Janet Eagland, Conservative member for Boley Park, said people needed to fight to ensure the return of the maternity service to the city.

> “We’ve got to have the Samuel Johnson maternity unit back.  
>  
> “That hospital was replacing The Victoria that they took away on the promise that we’d have a functioning village hospital.  
>  
> “Why should we have to go to a second hand way of going about getting a safe birth?  
>  
> “We need to fight this cause.”  
>  
> Cllr Janet Eagland, Lichfield District Council