Alexandra Hospital: MPs call for Hunt meeting over maternity services

Two Worcestershire MPs have called an urgent meeting with the health secretary after neonatal services were moved from a hospital.

All births will be transferred from Alexandra Hospital in Redditch to Worcestershire Royal Hospital from Thursday due to staff shortages.

Bromsgrove and Redditch MPs Sajid Javid and Karen Lumley want assurances from Jeremy Hunt over the "serious situation".

NHS bosses said the move was temporary.

In a joint statement, the MPs said mothers should be aware that if they did not want to travel to Worcester Royal, they can also look at going to Birmingham Women's Hospital or Warwick Hospital.

All births will be moved from the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch from 12:00 GMT on Thursday

Campaigners fighting to save services at the Alexandra Hospital are holding a 12-hour vigil outside the hospital on Thursday.

Neal Stote from the Save the Alex group said: "Unless the situation is stabilised by a different trust I believe this hospital will be stripped bare of key services within months."

Emma Bott, who is 28 weeks pregnant, said she was concerned about the trip to Worcester after she was in labour with her first child for just two hours.

She said: "I live about five minutes away from the [Alexandra] hospital and I was concerned before that I would have my baby at home anyway because I might not even make it here.

"And now obviously I'm thinking I could be having my baby on the motorway."

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said the relocation was temporary and the decision would be revisited in February.

The trust's interim chief nursing officer Mari Gay said: "This is purely down to the safety of our mums and babies, particularly babies that are born prematurely or have got some illness at birth

"We don't have enough neonatal specialist nurses across the two sites to provide really robust 24/7 services and of course that's what a very premature baby needs."