Birthing unit could reopen by end of next month

Health officials have said they are "cautiously optimistic" a closed maternity unit could reopen by the end of next month.

The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust suspended births at the hospital in Barnstaple on 11 August due to staffing issues, meaning women in north Devon have been facing long journeys to give birth.

A spokesperson for the trust said it was continuing to work "urgently" to reopen maternity services.

"We are making solid progress and recruiting the medical staffing needed to achieve this safely. We are cautiously optimistic that we may be in a position to do this by the end of September, subject to final recruitment and safety assurances," they said.

The spokesperson said the trust's board would be meeting on Wednesday to review the progress towards reopening and would provide more information as it became available.

They added: "We are continuing to work urgently to restore birthing services at North Devon District Hospital (NDDH) and continue to make solid progress and recruiting the medical staff needed to safely reopen the services.

"There has been no change to the temporary suspension of maternity services as of today."

The decision to suspend birthing services at the hospital - which serves north Devon and part of north-east Cornwall - led to the resignation of the trust's medical director who said she could not "support the way the trust has handled, and is handling, the maternity situation".

Dr Karen Davies said in her resignation letter the trust had "fundamentally failed the people of north Devon".

Devon County Council leader Julian Brazil also accused the trust of "a catastrophic failure of senior management" and on 15 August hundreds of people protested in Barnstaple over the decision.

Responding to Davies' resignation, Vanessa Purday, chief medical officer at the Royal Devon, said the trust "has a responsibility to make decisions based on clinical risk, patient safety and the available evidence".

"The decision to temporarily suspend birthing services was reached through established clinical, executive and system governance processes when safe staffing could no longer be assured," she said.

The Royal College of Midwives said there was "a staffing crisis in maternity services all-round the UK" but it noted the situation in Barnstaple was unusual as it was due to a shortage of obstetricians and not midwives.

"It's weighing up the balance of risk between not having the right doctors on site and women having to travel to another hospital that does have the right number of doctors," said chief executive Gill Walton.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg, really."

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