Eastbourne Midwifery Unit to remain closed until January

The unit had closed with ‘immediate effect’ Wednesday, December 20 due to staffing challenges.

Following this, East Sussex NHS Trust has announced that the unit will remain closed until the end of January 2024.

A spokesperson for the Trust said: “After reviewing the staffing needs for the coming weeks across all our maternity services and to provide certainty to families, we have made the decision to continue to suspend births at the Eastbourne Midwifery Unit until the end of January 2024, this will impact around four births a week. The unit will remain open for outpatient antenatal and postnatal services.

“Our maternity team are in touch with anyone who is affected by this, to discuss their options which includes giving birth at home or at the Conquest Hospital and reassuring them they will be fully supported with safe and effective maternity care. We apologise for any inconvenience the closure of the unit may cause but this decision has been made to ensure that we can maintain safe services over the coming weeks.

“We are continuing to work hard on both short term and long term solutions to our midwifery staffing issues. While we are actively attempting to recruit more midwives into our maternity services at Eastbourne and across East Sussex, the national shortage of trained midwives continues to make this a significant challenge.

“Please speak to your community midwife for further information or please contact us on the Triage Helpline: 03001315341.”