Hospital's births pause to remain until 2026

University Hospital of Hartlepool will still offer antenatal and postnatal care

A pause on the delivery of babies at a hospital has been extended until January, bosses have confirmed.

It was announced in May that "intrapartum care" - the period from the start of labour until delivery - would be paused for three-months at the University Hospital of Hartlepool due to staffing absences.

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust said the changes at the Rowan Suite, which took mothers deemed to be low risk, had been extended following a period of review.

Antenatal and postnatal care are to continue as normal, along with home births, the trust said.

The unit became fully operational in late 2020 and there have been 113 births there, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

A spokesperson from University Hospitals Tees, the hospital group which includes both North Tees and Hartlepool and South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trusts, stressed measures would be in place to "support the low number of women impacted".

They said the decision had been made because of a "number of workforce pressures and low activity".

Mothers-to-be have been sent to its sister site at the University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton.

Speaking when the initial pause was announced, Glen Hughes, of campaign group Fighting 4 Hartlepool Hospital, said a fully functioning maternity facility was "needed" and the suspension would negatively impact local families.

Statistics stated from November 2023 to April there were 1,209 births within the trust area by women who live in a Hartlepool postcode, with 1,175 taking place at the University Hospital of North Tees. and just 34 at the Rowan Suite.