After Whittington casualty, would baby unit be next?

Published: 12 March 2010
by Prof CATHY WARWICK

MIDWIVES at the Whittington Hospital are clearly under enormous pressure dealing with the rising birthrate and the increasing complexity and diversity of women’s health and social needs.

There are nowhere near enough midwives to provide the levels of choice for maternity care and during childbirth, and the continuity of maternity care that women want, as medical intervention rates and caesarean sections continue to escalate. 

Under current proposals for the reconfiguration of maternity services some hospitals, or specific services at hospitals, will shut and maternity services are in danger of being consolidated in large “baby factories” undertaking as many as 10,000 births a year. 

We are opposed to any such plans which will concentrate maternity care in ever larger and impersonal sites. 

We are concerned that the proposal to close the A& E department at the Whittington will ultimately lead to the closure of the obstetric unit and the transfer of women to neighbouring maternity services. 

The Royal College of Midwives is anxious that such reconfig­urations are likely to have a negative impact on medical intervention rates during labour, impede efforts to support normal childbirth without medical intervention and make it harder to recruit and retain midwives. We believe that decisions about maternity services should not be dictated by what is going on with other NHS services. Decisions must be about what is best for mothers, babies and their families. 

We call on managers at the Whittington to ensure women and their families receive accessible, responsive and high-quality midwifery services. This is what they deserve because local maternity services matter.

• Professor Cathy Warwick is general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives.
Visit www.rcm.org.uk

• See Also: Minister Mike O’Brien in warning over Whittington Hospital