A woman who was rushed 40 miles (64km) to a maternity unit after going into premature labour says her experience shows why services must remain at her local hospital. Because she required specialist care, midwives at Daisy Hill in Newry wanted to send Natasha Daryaie to Craigavon Area Hospital but were told there was no room. The Southern Health Trust plans to temporarily transfer inpatient maternity services from Daisy Hill to Craigavon because it has been unable to recruit enough consultant obstetricians to safely staff both hospitals.
A spokesperson for the trust said that, following operational and workforce assessments, inpatient maternity care at Craigavon had been identified as the safest and most sustainable arrangement for maintaining services. The trust says it is continuing efforts to recruit consultant obstetricians for Daisy Hill while preparing to temporarily consolidate births and inpatient maternity care at Craigavon from 23 November. However, mothers in the Newry area say losing local inpatient maternity services would leave families facing longer journeys at a time when they may need urgent care.
I was having contractions every five minutes but a midwife from Daisy Hill travelled with me to the Ulster Hospital where I spent four nights, was stabilised and then sent home," Natasha said. "What does it say if a woman can't give birth in her own city?" The trust has five vacant obstetrician posts and said it cannot provide a safe maternity service at Daisy Hill without the required medical cover. Its chief executive Steve Spoerry told Stormont's Health Committee that keeping women and babies safe was its highest priority.
He said the trust would not have enough consultants to staff both maternity units' daytime and out-of-hours rotas, adding that a transfer of services to Craigavon is "highly probable" from next month. Natasha, whose son Odin was eventually born at Daisy Hill at full term, said her experience showed why having services close to home mattered particularly in rural areas which she believes should be treated differently. "It's all well and good saying Craigavon is there but they didn't have room for me that night - that is the reality: Craigavon did not have room for one local mum from Newry," Natasha said.
"How are they going to accommodate 1,400 babies and mums in the future?" Another mother, Seanan Martin, said removing a service was not the answer and that the safety of mothers, babies and staff should be the priority. She said the workforce challenges should have been planned for years in advance. The number of midwives employed in the acute maternity units at Daisy Hill and Craigavon has fallen since October 2019.
The trust says the way midwifery care is delivered has changed, with more midwives now working in the community. The figures show the number of full-time midwives employed at the two hospitals. The current vacancies equate to 0.61 full-time posts at Daisy Hill and 11.69 at Craigavon.
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