Births unit return hope

A maternity unit could be brought back to Kidderminster Hospital as part of a plan to cut down journey times for people in the north of the county.

Wyre Forest Birth Centre, which was based at Kidderminster Hospital, closed in September 2003 following the deaths of six babies in a two-and-a-half year period.

Now Worcestershire Primary Care Trust wants to invest more than £3.5 million-a-year in maternity services and are considering a new site for birthing facilities in the north of the county – which would be either Kidderminster or Redditch.

Mothers from the Wyre Forest district have to travel nearly 20 miles to give birth in Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester or at the Alexandra Hospital at Redditch.

Now the possibility of creating a new midwife-led unit in either Kidderminster or Redditch is being considered.

Key highlights listed in the strategy include increasing staffing levels and introducing a new midwife-led maternity unit at Worcestershire Royal Hospital to run alongside the existing one.

The proposals also highlight the need for a similar unit for the north of the county which health chiefs say "will be considered in the future."

Other improvements would see better access to specialist paediatric services. Three years ago campaigners raised a petition bearing more than 3,200 signatures calling for the re-opening of the Wyre Forest Birth Centre.

Claire Austin, spokesman for Worcestershire Primary Care Trust, said: "The key highlights of the strategy do include looking at the possibility of a similar unit to the one proposed for Worcester.

"No decision has been taken and no date for consideration of this given."