Alexandra Hospital: Bereaved mum's fight to reopen maternity unit

Kirsty Southwell now has a son called Dylan who she calls her "rainbow baby" which is a baby that's born after the parents have a pregnancy loss

A mum who had to travel 20 miles to learn her unborn son had no heartbeat is fighting to get a town's maternity unit reopened.

Kirsty Southwell had to arrange a lift from Redditch to Worcestershire Royal Hospital for an emergency scan in 2017.

Her son Finley was stillborn and the tragedy has spearheaded her campaign to bring maternity services back to Redditch's Alexandra Hospital.

They closed in 2015 due to staff shortages.

Ms Southwell said the town's population was growing and that they needed the unit back.

The 32-year-old said she was panic stricken when a community nurse told her she needed to get to Worcester to learn her son's condition.

"It was something I didn't want to think about when the Alexandra is down the road from me," she said.

It took around two hours in total to arrange a lift and get to the city.

"I was just sitting in the car hugging my tummy and thinking my baby has gone," she told BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester.

Redditch's MP Rachel Maclean said she has not seen people from the town getting a better maternity service in Worcester

Her campaign has been supported by Redditch's Conservative MP, Rachel Maclean.

Ms Maclean said she had been told by medical staff that patients would get better services in Worcester but "I don't see that argument being backed up by facts," she said.

"What I am seeing is people not being able to get services in Redditch and I am not seeing any evidence from the Trust that the services they are getting in Worcester are better."

Ms Southwell, who now has a son called Dylan, has gathered 4,041 signatures to a petition calling for services to come back to the town.

Many other mums have been commenting and sharing their own experiences.

"My daughter gave birth at the side of the road in 2018 en route to Worcester, she didn't even make it out of Redditch due to rush hour traffic, we need our services back immediately," one said.

Matthew Hopkins, chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: "The changes to maternity and paediatric services were the subject of extensive public consultation.

"They were followed by an inclusive public service review which endorsed the service changes as presenting the best way to deliver sustainable and high quality services for patients."