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Women urged to give birth at Stafford's County Hospital

Pregnant women will be urged to use Stafford's hospital to give birth amid concerns for the future of its midwifery unit.

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County Hospital in Stafford does not have a 24/7 A&E unit

Only between one and three babies are being delivered each month at County Hospital, way below the target of 350 births a year needed to ensure the delivery centre remains viable.

A campaign is now being launched by the University Hospital of North Midlands NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, to try and save the unit by convincing expectant mothers to use it.

Only 88 babies were born at Stafford last year and the trust's new chief executive Tracey Bullock told council leaders recently the number of births were "nowhere near enough".

She added: "It's not safe and it's not effective, it saps the motivation of staff who have to sit there night after night and do nothing."

A consultant-led obstetric was moved from Stafford to Royal Stoke Hospital in January 2016, leaving a midwife-led service at County Hospital for births considered a lower risk.

It has been suggested that the reason for such a low birth rate is that patients want to be closer to emergency care. County Hospital does not have a 24-hour A&E service.

Just one baby was born at the hospital in February, leading to a use-it-or-lose-it warning from Marcus Warnes, of Staffordshire's Clinical Commissioning Group.

UHNM spokeswoman Rachel Harrop said: “Last year just 88 babies were born at the Freestanding Midwifery Birth Unit at County Hospital, which is on average less than two a week.

“For this to be sustainable that figure needs to be around 300 and despite original predictions when the unit was first established that numbers would increase over time, that has not been the case. The most births the unit has had was 137.

“The facilities are fabulous and offer a home from home environment with two birthing rooms, a birthing pool room and facilities where partners can stay overnight.

“All mums to be are told about this option and offered a tour of the unit, and we have and will continue to support awareness of this via press interviews, case studies and local advertising.

"Ultimately however giving birth is a very personal choice and at the end of the day if mums-to-be want to give birth elsewhere we need to respect that decision."