Fears over merger of maternity services at Sandwell and City hospitals

Apr 25 2009 by Nick McCarthy, Birmingham Mail

“But this new hospital is not absolutely guaranteed. The economy has gone down hill fast and it concerns me that they may not even get the funding and we will be left with these service levels.”

John Adler, chief executive of Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The agreed long-term plan for maternity is the creation of a single, state-of-the-art, consultant-led maternity unit and midwifery-led birthing centre within the brand new hospital we plan to open in 2015.

“In order to make sure we can continue making improvements at both our hospitals in the meantime, we need to consider a number of options which include where and how we provide our services.”

Mr Adler said any decision would be subject to external review and public consultation.

“Our priority is to ensure we continue to improve our services, providing a safe and high quality service for local women and their babies,” he said.

Dr Simon Mitchell, director of Clinical Services Development and Quality at Sandwell PCT added: “Any options on reconfiguration of the service would be subject to an external review and public consultation, and are primarily focusing on maintaining a safe and good quality service for women in Sandwell and Birmingham.”