Kirklees birth unit closures sad and upsetting - MP

Kim Leadbeater said families deserved to give birth locally if they wished

An MP has said mothers in her West Yorkshire constituency should be able to choose to have their baby locally.

The closure of birthing units in Huddersfield and Dewsbury means no babies have been born in hospitals in Kirklees for over a year.

Kim Leadbeater, the MP for Batley and Spen, said the units should be reopened as people deserved a "local choice".

The health trusts involved said closures were due to staffing levels and they were working to address this.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Huddersfield Birth Centre's services were suspended in March 2020 due to Covid pressures, but staffing issues have prevented it from reopening.

Dewsbury's Bronte Birth Centre closed in May 2022 due to staff shortages.

Ms Leadbeater said: "I think it is really sad that mums-to-be cannot give birth in Kirklees in the areas where we live.

"We should be able to choose where we give birth to our children and it is really sad and upsetting that choice has been taken away from families locally."

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust said the closure of the unit at Huddersfield had been a "difficult decision".

Chief nurse Lindsay Rudge said the recruitment and retention of midwives was challenging and they were working to address it.

"Whilst we understand that many families would like to have their babies born in Huddersfield, the safety of our patients must come first.

"We are committed to working towards reopening the birth centre in Huddersfield, when it is safe to do so."

No babies have been born in hospitals in Kirklees in over a year

Talib Yaseen, chief nursing officer at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, said the decision to close the midwife-led Bronte Birth Centre was due to staffing levels falling below safe levels.

He said they were working to address recruitment and retention issues and continued to assess the potential to reopen the unit for births.

Ms Leadbeater said it should not be an aspiration to provide basic health care facilities for local families.

"We need to get these local services reopened as soon as possible because people deserve that local choice."

In her view, she said the closures reflected a "decade of mismanagement" in the NHS.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said it had invested £265m a year since 2021 to "grow the maternity workforce and improve neonatal services".

"We are also promoting careers in midwifery by increasing training places by up to 3,650 over the past four years."

They added the NHS had published its first Long Term Workforce Plan, supported by funding of £2.4bn, "to deliver the biggest training expansion in NHS history".