Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust has announced an internal review into the unit. The maternity unit has been closed following concerns raised by staff and patients. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust has announced an internal review into the Maternity Unit in Chipping Norton. It said the closure had been prompted by "concerns around working practices". A statement added that women who are booked in, or are considering giving birth, at the unit will be contacted to discuss their options. Antenatal support, breastfeeding advice, babies' hearing tests and postnatal care will continue to be provided at the site. Cotswold is a midwife-led unit for women with low-risk pregnancies who are not expected to need any interventions in labour, including epidurals. Thirty-two births took place at the unit during the first six months of 2012, with one birth in September. The internal review is due to take about three months.
THE Cotswold Maternity Unit in Chipping Norton has suspended births following fears raised by staff and women, it has emerged. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust has just announced it is taking the step with immediate effect while an internal review is carried out. Yet the trust is refusing to say what is behind the closure, apart from a statement saying there are "concerns around working practices raised by staff and women using the unit". The move only affects the Cotswold unit and an OUH spokesman said mums-to-be would be able to give birth at The Horton in Banbury, the John Radcliffe in Oxford, at home or at Warwick Hospital. Women booked into the Cotswold unit or at home will be notified of the alternatives open to them, she added. The internal review is expected to take about three months and the spokesman said a number of actions had already been taken. Jane Hervé, Head of Midwifery at the Trust, has been asked to lead the review into all aspects of the unit’s working practices. The spokesman was asked what the concerns were but she said the reasons would not be released to the public. The trust says Cotswold Maternity Unit is a midwifery-led unit based in the north of Oxfordshire for women from Chipping Norton and the surrounding area.The unit is staffed by Chipping Norton midwives and supported by midwives from Banbury and Bicester. It has two delivery rooms with birthing pools. Ed. Is this the beginning of the end for Chipping Norton Hospital? with all the support that the closure of the War Memorial Hospital, the meetings, the promises, the nurses employment agreement, it was clear from day one the design of the building with the entrance to the hospital around the back the intention is to close it and become one big nursing home eventually, what next?
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