New review of maternity services is under way in East Sussex

A review of maternity services is being undertaken in East Sussex. It will cover Eastbourne District General Hospital, the Conquest Hospital in Hastings and the Crowborough Birthing Centre.

In a document explaining the review East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust says “concerns continue to be raised about the long term sustainability and safety of the services.

“The Trust now needs to take action to deliver a strategic solution to clinical and financial sustainability for these services in the long term.”

A similar review of maternity services took place in 2007/2008 when successful campaigns were run to retain services at both Eastbourne and Hastings hospitals.

The latest review document says plans are in place to ensure that the services can be delivered safely and effectively on a day to day basis and midwifery staffing levels have improved considerably over recent months.

“However ongoing issues with middle grade staffing within the current configuration have led to concerns that the current service model is becoming more difficult to sustain without the risk of an impact on patient safety."

The scope of the review includes:

All the maternity services delivered by the Trust including both acute maternity units, the midwife led unit at Crowborough Birthing Centre and the Community Midwifery service.
Paediatric neonatology and other related paediatric services.
Gynaecology and other related gynaecology services.
other service(s) defined during the review as having critical inter-dependencies with maternity services for example anaesthetics.

Here is more information about the review.

And here is a questionnaire compiled by East Sussex Healthcare as it conducts the review into maternity care.