Babies 'at risk' in beds move (From Banbury Cake)

Babies 'at risk' in beds move

6:00am Thursday 9th July 2009

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Babies and vulnerable mothers could be put at risk if ‘efficiency’ plans at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, go ahead, it has been claimed.

Fears were raised about the future of the hospital’s acclaimed Silver Star Unit, which provides specialist care for high-risk pregnant women, after a shake-up of the maternity unit was announced by the local health trust.

The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust this week confirmed that it was closing a level at the maternity unit, while strenuously denying that the Silver Star Unit was under threat.

But the trust’s plan to close level six of the maternity unit has angered parents who have raised thousands of pounds for the specialist unit housed there. And they warned that “merging” two levels in the JR’s Women’s Centre would mean the loss of 25 beds, representing a quarter of the maternity beds in the JR.

Neal Long, chief executive of the national Stillbirth and Neo-natal Death Society, urged the truast to “reconsider their actions as a matter of urgency.”

About 5,000 pregnant women have been treated in the Silver Star Unit over the last five years — about ten per cent of all pregnancies at the JR.

The Silver Star charity this week expressed concern that vulnerable pregnant women now faced “cramped and inferior conditions”.

The trust is seeking to make savings of £44m, with 370 jobs to go next year. It said the decision to move the Silver Star service from level six to level five was not part of any cost-cutting plan and was a temporary measure that would not hit the quality of care.

The reassurances have, however, failed to allay the fears of ex-patients, staff and the Silver Star Society.

Some witnesses reported that patients and staff were in tears this week, as pregnant women were being moved out of what had been the Silver Star level.

Nuala Webb, a former treasurer of the Silver Star Society, said: “There were 25 beds on level six, all available for high-risk mothers and babies, who receive the high level of care they desperately need.

“Under this plan we are told that only 12 beds will be allocated to the Silver Star Unit on level five. So, Silver Star is effectively losing 13 high-care beds. The loss of these beds is almost certainly going to cost the lives of babies and put mothers’ health in danger.

“The plan also means that the ordinary maternity unit is having to give up 12 beds.”

She dismissed as “nonsense” the trust’s claim that level six of the maternity unit was being closed simply because fewer babies get to be born during the summer months.

And members of the charity expressed dismay that two state-of-the-art family rooms that the Silver Star charity had raised £84,000 to fund were left empty.

A statement by the Silver Star Society said: “We view the proposed move to level five with concern. Although it is said that the move is temporary, the continuing refusal to give a definite date for returning to level six is not reassuring.

“The society knows that the facilities on level five are inferior. It also knows that good care to high-risk pregnant women does not flourish under cramped and rushed conditions that will inevitably prevail.”

The trust said there was no risk of pregnant women being turned away from the John Radcliffe, while in the event of any big influx, level six could be reopened.

Trust spokesman Helen Peggs said: “The Silver Star service is not changing in a way that will affect patients. Our intention is to move the service back in the autumn.

“Our predicted birth rate for the coming months is lower than usual for this time of year, which is generally low anyway. So we are using spare space and bringing together two of our maternity wards. We have done this often in the past.

“Silver Star inpatients will continue to receive specialist midwifery care in their own dedicated areas with access to family rooms. The Silver Star outpatients service will remain exactly the same.”

The trust estimates that 13 beds will go during the closure of level six, and rather than cutting staff, it was recruiting midwives.

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