A Third Of Maternity Units ‘Face Closure’

One third of the country’s consultant-led maternity units could face closure because they are not big enough to cope with strict new European Union regulations on doctors’ working hours, the Conservatives claimed last night.

Guidance from the Department of Health has warned that units that handle fewer than 2,500 live births a year will struggle to remain viable.

At present, a total of 50 of the 176 consultant-led units around the country fall below this threshold, according to analysis by the Tories.

However, a report issued by one of England’s strategic health authorities paints an even bleaker picture, suggesting that units may need up to 4,000 births a year to be “efficient”.

If that threshold was introduced, the number of consultant-led units could plummet from 176 to just 78. The figures emerged as Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, faced the fury of midwives when she spoke at their annual conference in Brighton yesterday.

Miss Hewitt angered the Royal College of Midwives conference by conceding that the potential closure of maternity units in cities like Manchester were “quite difficult and unpopular”.

But she argued that there was “very convincing” evidence that the changes would be good for mothers and their babies.

The threat to one in three maternity units has been caused by the introduction of the European Working Time Directive in the NHS, which will see the number of hours junior doctors can work fall from 58 hours a week to 48 hours a week by August 2009.

Guidance issued by Sheila Shribman, the national director of maternity services, highlighted how the directive had affected the two consultant-led units at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust.

She said the EU regulations meant the units “could no longer work efficiently or ethically plug the gaps with tired and inexperienced junior doctors”.

However, a report by the East of England Strategic Health Authority goes even further by arguing that units will need to be even bigger in order to provide the appropriate levels of medical cover.

For a unit to provide 40 hours of consultant presence every week, it would need a rota of at least six consultants once their other commitments are taken into account.

Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said: “Patricia Hewitt talks about providing choice and access to mothers but the number of midwives have been cut in the each of the last two years.”

Last night Ivan Lewis, the health minister, said the Conservative claims were ”absolute nonsense”.