Redditch maternity campaigner petitions outside hospital

Kirsty Southwell had to travel from Redditch to Worcestershire Royal Hospital after she was told her baby had no heartbeat

A bereaved mother has been petitioning outside a hospital in a campaign to see local maternity services returned.

The maternity unit at Redditch's Alexandra Hospital was closed in 2015 due to staff shortages.

Kirsty Southwell, from the town, started her campaign after she had to travel 20 miles to find out her unborn son Finley had died in 2017.

The hospital trust said there had been a consultation at the time about the changes to the hospital services.

Ms Southwell was outside the hospital on Saturday gathering signatures for her petition for maternity services to return.

Ms Southwell and other campaigners petitioned outside the hospital on Saturday

Among those present was Conservative councillor Mike Rouse, who said the consultation by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust was too long ago.

"These services must return," he said. "The public consultation was years ago, the world has changed since then and I think they really need to look at it again."

The town's Conservative MP Rachel Maclean has also previously come out in support of Ms Southwell's campaign.

Ms Southwell said it was "really important that we keep fighting".

"I don't want anyone to go through what I went through, it's a horrible journey to be on," she said.

She had been at a routine midwife appointment at the hospital in 2017 when staff were unable to find Finley's heartbeat, and told her she needed to travel to Worcester for an emergency scan.

"I had to wait and get a lift off a friend," she said. "It just felt like hours getting there.

"Losing a baby, knowing you've got a dead baby inside you... I don't want anybody to go through that."

In a statement, the trust said it had invested in the Alexandra becoming a centre for planned surgery and that the changes were the best way of delivering services to patients.