IN another devastating blow to the community’s healthcare services, Okehampton Hospital looks sets to lose its maternity unit, under changes proposed by health bosses yesterday (Tuesday).

The Acute Services Review undertaken by a wide range of clinicians from Devon recommends that midwifery-led maternity units should close in Okehampton, Tiverton, Honiton and Newton Abbot, while a greater emphasis is put on home birth and its consultant-led units at its main hospital sites in Exeter, Plymouth, Barnstaple and Torquay. The doctors and clinicians involved said it would explore the potential to relocate the four midwifery-led units alongside its consultant-led units at its main hospital sites.

The announcement has caused great anger locally.

Okehampton’s mayor Cllr Jan Goffey said: ’This was on the cards the moment we lost the Okement Surgery when the hospital lost its doctors. Since then it’s been the hospital beds and now this. It has felt inevitable.

’At this rate we’re lucky to still have our hospital surviving — I don’t want to see the building lost to housing because then there is no way to get our services back. We are still fighting to retain the building and keep our clinics — but there is not any proof whatsoever that Okehampton has been properly thought about any more since the end of the in-patient beds consultation when we were told that the rurality of Okehampton would be considered in relation to any changes to services.

’The potential loss of the maternity unit makes me so cross. Babies have been born for thousands of years just fine without the presence of doctors. There are definite cases where specialist neonatal care and doctor presence is needed throughout, but most babies will be born perfectly healthily with a midwife.

’Why should women having normal births have to travel so far to Exeter when Okehampton has a cherished midwife unit here?

’People I have spoken to say that the Okehampton maternity unit is lovely, less pressured than a large hospital, more personal and with a fantastic level of care. It will be a great shame when all that is wiped away.

’There are millions of disparate voices around the country who are angry and appalled about what is happening to our National Health Service. We need to wake up, see what’s happening and do something about it.

’Eventually we are going to be forced into an American system where people profit off the illness of others. It’s a disgrace.’

The review claims that only 2% of births in Devon took place in the standalone midwifery units, with 4% of births supported at home or in other settings.

The proposed closure of the unit is part of a wider review into the county’s acute health services, including accident and emergency, stroke services and more. The clinicians behind the review claim that the new model could provide more effective services though the review has also been driven by needs to reduce healthcare budgets in Devon.

Dr Phil Hughes, who led the review and is a medical director and consultant radiologist at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, said: ’We needed to think more collectively and consider how we share the treasured clinical expertise we hold within Devon, working in partnership to ensure that health and social care are working closer together than ever before.’

’The NHS is still facing an unprecedented challenge and the recommendations do not, at this stage, solve all of the problems we face.

’For maternity services, national best practice shows us that more women could be giving birth at home so we will continue to explore this in the next phase of this work.

’Over the coming months we’ll be talking to local communities about any specific proposals but for now we are publishing the results of the clinical review so that the public can be assured that this represents the clinical view of how acute services should be secured in Devon.’

The clinical recommendations are the first stage in the review. As part of the second stage, the recommendations will be tested in more detail to ensure they can be delivered with safe, cost-effective and reliable staffing solutions for the future.

Only once this assurance work is complete, can the recommendations be finalised. Should the final proposals be likely to result in significant change to local services, the public will be fully consulted in line with the NHS statutory requirements. A full timetable would also be developed and published.