Two-hour drive to maternity wards

Tywyn Hospital, like Dolgellau, will be without midwives for a month

Expectant mothers still face potential journeys of nearly two hours to get to hospital to give birth after local midwifery services were suspended.

Midwives at Tywyn and Dolgellau in Gwynedd will be unavailable for work until the end of February because of a delay in completing training courses.

Mothers face travelling to hospitals in either Wrexham, Bangor or Aberystwyth.

The local health watchdog said although this was inconvenient, mothers were not being put in danger.

Meirionnydd Community Health Council said it was monitoring the situation.

Midwives from Tywyn and Dolgellau began training in October, and were supposed to have been back at work by now.

But North West Wales NHS Trust confirmed there had been a month's delay, and normal services would not be renewed until the end of February.

Expectant mothers will have to travel to either the Maelor Hospital in Wrexham, Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth, or Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor.

The journey from Dolgellau to Bangor is more than 50 miles, while Tywyn to Wrexham is more than 70 miles, and Tywyn to Aberystwyth is at least 30 miles.

"Inconvenience"

Despite the distances involved, the Meirionnydd Community Health Council said expectant mothers were in no particular danger.

Chief officer Gareth Owen said: "We are monitoring the situation, of course.

"It's not ideal, and it is an inconvenience - I have just had one mother on the phone who's expecting her third and she's worried about how she's going to manage.

"But the good news is that at the end of this we will be getting midwives who are fully up to date with the latest training."

He added: "The trust has confirmed the units will re-open at the end of February and we will be keeping an eye on that date."