EXPECTANT mothers in Ludlow and south Shropshire have been given even more to worry about following an incident in the north of the county.

The unit in Ludlow as in other towns has been subject to ‘temporary closures’ at short notice.

In an incident in Oswestry a 36-year-old expectant mother was being looked after in the Labour ward when, after discussing the situation with her midwife, it was agreed that the delivery would be a few hours away. So, Hannah Miller took the advice of the midwife and went home to get some rest.

When she called back a few hours later she was told that the unit had been closed whilst she was away.

“Simon Wright, Chief Executive of the Shropshire and Telford Heath Trust, keeps insisting that there are no problems with staffing and that they are currently ‘over establishment’ when it comes to the number of midwives they employ,” said Gill George who lives in Ludlow and is chair of Shropshire Defend our NHS.

“What they’re actually doing here is ‘weaponising’ closures of our rural Maternity Units. They keep closing them to drive down the number of births. Then they pretend that women are ‘choosing’ not to use the Midwife Led Units.”