Pontefract birthing unit closure plan put on hold

The decision to shut Friarwood Birth Centre has been put on hold following objections from councillors.

The centre was temporarily shut in 2019 on the grounds of clinical safety due to a midwife shortage.

Earlier this month, Wakefield District Health and Care Partnership (WDHCP) agreed to its permanent closure.

Days later, Wakefield Council’s NHS scrutiny committee referred the decision back to WDHCP, calling for fresh public consultation to be carried out.

A special meeting of the scrutiny committee heard today (January 25) that the closure decision has now been “paused.”

A new public consultation will take place but is unlikely to go ahead before the general or local elections.

In a letter to committee members, Jo Webster, place lead for WDHCP, said: “In the meantime we have asked that the decision to close the birthing unit at Pontefract should be paused.”

Ms Webster said the temporary closure of the facility will remain in place.

Maternity provision will continue to be prioritised at Pinderfields Hospital, with full ante-natal and post-natal care services remaining at Pontefract.

Ms Webster confirmed that Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust have been informed of the decision.

Reacting to the development, scrutiny committee chair Elizabeth Rhodes said: “This gives an opportunity for the public to now have their say.

“This is all that we can do through our committee. That’s the importance of proper scrutiny.

“The committee made it plain that the (consultation) process had not been followed.”

The last public engagement on closure was carried out in 2018 and 2019.

Committee member Melanie Jones: “When we spoke to women in the south east (of the district), they wanted to use Pontefract birthing unit.

“We cannot isolate a whole section of this district.

“This (consultation) was five or six years ago. These are different mothers and fathers coming through that want different choices and options.

“It is important that there is further consultation.”

Councillor Charlie Keith said: “I don’t think the decision making process took into account the people who want to use this service and pay for it up front.

“They have lost all faith in these people to make the next decision.”

Councillors previously accused local NHS decision makers of ‘deliberately running down’ the town’s maternity services in order to justify its closure.

Yvette Cooper, Labour MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, has also called for the centre to stay open, saying parents have been ‘let down’.

The NHS said the number of births at Pontefract was “lower than expected” so it could not justify midwives being deployed there.

A report said about 200 women a year gave birth at Pontefract before the unit’s suspension and midwives continued to work at centres where the numbers were higher.