Eastbourne Midwifery Unit to remain closed for births

The Midwifery Unit was shut with ‘immediate effect in December 2023 following staffing challenges.

Following this, East Sussex NHS Trust had announced that the unit would remain closed until the end of January 2024.

Due to the staffing challenges staff from the Midwifery Unit had been redeployed into the community midwifery team.

Despite the update, the trust confirmed in February that the unit would continue to be suspended for births, with some being directed to give birth either at home or at Conquest Hospital in Hastings.

The Trust, however, did confirm that the unit would remain open for outpatient antenatal and postnatal services.

In a statement, a spokesperson for East Sussex NHS Healthcare Trust said: “Due to staffing challenges facing our maternity services in Eastbourne we have redeployed staff from the Eastbourne Midwifery Unit into our community midwifery team to ensure that we are able to continue to provide safe, high quality home births and maternity care within the community.

“After reviewing the staffing needs across all our maternity services, we have made the decision to continue to suspend births at the Eastbourne Midwifery Unit, this will impact around three/four births a week. The unit remains open for outpatient antenatal and postnatal services.

“Our maternity team are in touch with anyone who is affected by this, to discuss their options which includes giving birth at home or at Conquest Hospital, and reassuring them that they will be fully supported with safe and effective maternity care. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, but this decision has been made to ensure that we can maintain safe services.

“We are continuing to work hard on both short term and long term solutions to our midwifery staffing issues. While we are actively attempting to recruit more midwives into our maternity services at Eastbourne and across East Sussex, the national shortage of trained midwives continues to make this a significant challenge.

“Please speak to your community midwife for further information or please call our Triage Helpline: 0300 131 5341.”