By Dur-e-Sheywaar Ahmed
The NHS released that the decision has been made to discontinue the Friarwood Birth centre in Pontefract, due to a lack of births in the centre. Healthcare workers are not happy.
The centre faced a temporary closure back in 2019, due to a lack of midwives available. On Wednesday 9th Jan, 6:00am, Now the NHS Trust have finalised the decision to close the birth centre, as women choose to give birth elsewhere.
Yvette Cooper, the UK’s shadow Home Secretary has vocalised her concerns, requesting a meeting with the head of the Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust to save the birth centre amid public outrage. Health workers claim it is ‘completely unfair’ to close good services at Pontefract and shift them elsewhere. Full Neonatal care is still available at Pontefract Hospital.
Ms Cooper urges the NHS to reconsider their decision, demanding them to save the birth centre.
This decision to close may have come from the strain placed on the NHS.
It was announced last year in the Autumn Statement by Jeremy Hunt, Chief of financial matters in Parliament, that the NHS would be facing a cut of £5bn this year. Resulting, in a crisis in local health services across the country.
Staff shortages have been the key indicator in the decision to close the Birth centre down as it has proved difficult to safely staff all sites at once, says Len Richards, Chief Executive of the Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust.
Maternity care is still expected to resume in Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield and Dewsbury.
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