Dewsbury and Huddersfield birthing units to reopen soon, councillors told

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

Mums-to-be in Kirklees should soon be able to give birth closer to home again, after more than a year without a hospital birthing unit in the district.

Staff shortages have prevented the reopening of Huddersfield Birth Centre, which closed in 2020, and a centre in Dewsbury, which closed last year.

Health chiefs said a firm date had been set for the Dewsbury's Bronte Birth Centre to reopen by 1 April next year.

They said they were also "optimistic" about Huddersfield's centre re-opening.

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

The Dewsbury centre closed its doors in May 2022 due to trouble recruiting and retaining staff.

However, a meeting of Kirklees Council's Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel has now been told that nearly all midwife posts at the Dewsbury centre had been filled and a birth centre manager had also been recruited.

Members of the panel heard that there had not been the same success in recruitment at Huddersfield, but bosses were hopeful it would re-open from August 2024 at the earliest, dependent on staffing issues.

But Councillor Bill Armer, chair of the panel, pushed Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust for a firm date.

Responding, chief nurse Lindsay Rudge said: "We will, if we recruit in March, move to a position of opening the birth centre.

"It's not that we don't want to, we are absolutely committed to when it is safe to do so."