Lisburn Maternity Care 'Reprieved'

Fears over the future of a Co Antrim maternity facility are receeding this week.

The NI Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey, yesterday announced that maternity services will - after all - be retained at Lagan Valley Hospital in Lisburn.

The intention is to establish a Community Midwifery Unit at the Hospital - with a planned launch date of 2010.

At the same time, antenatal and postnatal maternity services will remain at the hospital, caring for women before and after birth.

The announcement follows a proposal by the South Eastern Trust to transfer inpatient obstetric services from the hospital on the grounds that they are no longer sustainable but to also give their support for the development of a midwifery-led unit.

Speaking following a meeting on Wednesday with midwives and obstetricians at Lagan Valley Hospital, the Minister has now asked the South-Eastern Trust to produce a business case and implementation plan to ensure the new service is established as soon as possible.

He said: "I know that women in the area have received excellent maternity services for many years at Lagan Valley.

"It is now clear that inpatient obstetric services cannot be sustained in the longer term, however, antenatal and postnatal services will continue to be provided in the hospital for all local women.

"I want to establish a midwifery unit at Lagan Valley so that women in the Lisburn area will have greater choice of service provision and access to excellent services in the proposed new midwifery unit," he said.

A community midwifery unit will provide a full range of maternity services, which will offer greater choice for a significant number of women who are expected to have normal low risk labours.

"I have asked the Trust to produce an implementation plan so that the change in services can be introduced quickly," he said, indicating that this was likely to be in place next year.

The midwifery unit is likely to manage up to 500 births every year and would play a key role in supporting maternity services across Northern Ireland.

However, as part of the 'Developing Better Services' plan, and as highlighted in the recent consultation undertaken by the South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust, in-patient obstetric services cannot be sustained at Lagan Valley hospital in the long term.

In particular the Trust cannot provide the 24/7 paediatric input that would normally be expected in a consultant-led unit.

He said: "I want to acknowledge the dedication of staff at Lagan Valley maternity unit. As so many mothers will confirm, the staff in this unit provide high quality care in a friendly and welcoming environment and will continue to do so in the future."

See: Maternity Care 'Crisis' Alert In Craiavon

(BMcC/JM)