Maternity services will not expand

Difficult births will not take place in Grantham

Maternity services in Grantham, Lincolnshire, will not be upgraded, according to health officials.

The Government has announced it will not be extending the unit from its current status of being run by midwives.

Campaigners have condemned the policy for allowing only low risk births to take place there.

Since the consultant led-service was withdrawn from the hospital, campaigners have been battling to get more services.

Excellent example

They say the current system is not safe enough because of the extra travelling time placed on expectant mothers.

But David Lammy, Parliamentary Under-secretary for health, said the midwifery managed unit is an excellent example of a modernized maternity service.

He said the decision meant a maternity unit could be safely expanded to include a wider group of women.

David Loasby, Chief Executive of the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, agreed and said the safety of the service had been confirmed.

Low risk babies to use Grantham unit

"There have been two reviews of the service and they concluded the fears of increased mortality were unfounded and they also found there was a very high level of satisfaction amongst the women who used the service."

There have been calls for full consultant-led maternity services to be reinstated after expectant mother Kathy Morris was driven 80 miles to give birth.

Mrs Morris, who lives in Grantham, gave birth to a girl, Sinead, 15 weeks prematurely at a hospital in Stoke-on-Trent.

Sinead weighed just 1lb and 12oz and died a week later.

No facilities

Mrs Morris' husband, Trevor, had already driven her from Grantham to Lincoln, but they were told there were no facilities available.

Mr Morris said: "She had a three-hour drive and could have gone into labour going backwards and forwards between Grantham and Lincoln.

"If the facilities had been available in Grantham I feel that Sinead would still be with us now."