Melton baby unit closure: Online engagement events start next week

Those in favour of retaining St Mary’s Birth Centre in the town have only until December 21 to make their views known to local health authority bosses.

The clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland want to carry out a £450million revamp of local hospital services, including centralising major maternity services in Leicester.

Plans include relocating the Melton baby unit to a new midwifery-led service at the Leicester General Hospital.

Health bosses say the town birth centre is under-used - there were 141 babies born there in the year 2018-19 when it requires 500 to remain viable - and that it is not accessible for the majority of women across Leicestershire.

The closure of the unit has been mooted several times over the last decade but this will be the last campaign mobilised to save it.

The online events are part of a consultation process and are designed to help people find out more and ask questions about proposals.

They will take place using Microsoft Teams, due to the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

To ensure people who aren’t online are still able to participate, there is an option to listen in by telephone and submit questions in advance.

There will be online question and answer panel sessions able to host 1,000-plus attendees, with people able to ask questions during the event or submit them up to two hours in advance.

The sessions will be on Monday (7-8.30pm), October 29 (10-11.30am) and December 7 (7-8.30pm).

A series of online public events will host up to 250 people with people able to ask questions in exactly the same way as they would have done in a face-to-face public meeting, using Microsoft Teams.

These are on Wednesday (2-3.30pm), Thursday (7-8.30pm) and October 31 (10-11.30am),November 12 (7-8.30pm), November 21 (2-3.30pm), November 27 (10-11.30am), December 2 (7-8.30pm), December 12 (2-3.30pm) and December 13 (2-3.30pm).

In addition, a number of workshops will be held on specific topics so people can get into a discussion with others and give more detailed insights and views. These will be limited to a pre-registered audience of up to 15 people.

Workshops where Melton’s baby unit is likely to be discussed with be on November 9 (11am-12.30pm) and November 18 (6-7.30pm).

Andy Williams, chief executive for the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland clinical commissioning groups, said: “These online events are a great way of helping more people find out about the proposals and ask questions of clinicians and managers.”

Go to www.betterhospitalsleicester.nhs.uk for details of how to join the online events.

Thousands of people have already signed online petitions opposing the proposed closure of the Melton birth centre.

Glynn Cartwright, of community group Melton Matters, and borough councillors Alan Pearson, Chris Fisher and Rebecca Smedley have started a petition which already has more than 500 signatories.

They say in their online petition: “Once again our local birth centre is threatened with permanent closure, with an expanding town we need to retain important local services such as this one so that pre and post-natal care remains accessible for all expectant mothers across our borough.

“We have heard so many stories that a much more personal service is received by those that use St Mary’s, you feel like a person there rather than a number at the bigger hospital maternity units, yet expectant mothers are pushed to use the LRI or QMC, not our local birthing unit, and they wonder why our birth centre has such low usage.

“Do we really want to be in a situation like we are now with King Edward VII school, which was closed in 2011 as apparently there wasn’t enough pupils, “Now we have Long Field and John Ferneley at maximum capacity!

“Please sign this petition before we lose another vital service that will be needed years down the line.”

The Rutland and Melton Labour Party was first to set up a petition to save the unit and over 2,600 people have now signed it.

Local constituency chair, Matt Smith, said: “We have now had well over 200 positive comments from local people who have used the facility.

“Many of these comments give details of the wonderful service the birthing unit provides, both during birth and with aftercare.

“If the unit closed it would create a huge healthcare void for expectant mothers and their families and the problems created would cost the NHS much more in the long run.

“We see the petition as supporting the long-established campaign of Save St Mary’s Birth Centre and we fully support the plans and ideas they are developing and urge residents to visit their Facebook page for more information.

“We are also concerned that some may think that The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust has already decided on the fate of the unit, but we believe it is possible to change minds.

“This can happen if the people of Melton continue to encourage people to sign the petition and respond to the consultation document.

“As a community we have the power to make the NHS trust see sense and save this essential service.”

The overall Leicester hospitals revamp would provide 139 more hospital beds and move all acute care - patients receiving treatment for severe injury or illness, urgent medical conditions and those recovering from surgery - to the Leicester Royal Infirmary and to Glenfield Hospital.

Proposals also include a new maternity hospital and the first single-site dedicated children’s hospital in the East Midlands at Leicester Royal Infirmary and the expanding of Glenfield Hospital by a third to create a planned care treatment centre for operations and emergency procedures.

A new community health campus with non-acute services would be created on the site of Leicester General Hospital, including in-patient beds for patients recovering from a stroke, new GP direct access imaging facilities such as x-rays and scans to help diagnose conditions quicker, plus the retention of the existing diabetes centre of excellence.

*** To see the full consultation document and complete the questionnaire survey go online at www.betterhospitalsleicester.nhs.uk or email emailing [email protected] for further details or alternatively call 0116 295 0750 to have a hard copy sent out to you.

*** Go to www.change.org/p/university-hospitals-of-leicester-nhs-trust-save-st-mary-s-birthing-centre and to www.change.org/p/andrew-furlong-save-our-birthing-unit-from-closure to sign the petitions.
To join a Facebook campaign to save the baby unit, go to www.facebook.com/savestmarys to find out more.