EXPECTANT mothers have been given only a fortnight’s notice that a maternity unit is about to close for two months.

Staff shortages at Bishop Auckland Hospital maternity unit mean it is unsafe to continue the service until more midwives are appointed – prompting MP Helen Goodman to accuse health bosses of a failure of management.

News of the temporary closure – from July 2 to September 2 – came on the same day as details were announced of changes at the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, to improve efficiency and cut costs.

Hospital managers said that while 48 staff are being redeployed at the Friarage, no jobs will be lost and services should not be affected.

Patients who use the Women’s Health Unit, opened by the Countess of Wessex in 2007 after a £21m hospital investment, have been assured that plans to move the unit and merge it with a surgical ward will not result in mixed sex wards.

Bosses at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Bishop Auckland maternity unit, said that a combination of staff leaving and long-term sickness had created a shortage of qualified midwives.

While the trust is recruiting replacements, new staff will not be in post until early September.

“This means we cannot guarantee safe care 24 hours a day,” a spokesman said.

Senior midwives haverecommended the trust’s board should agree to a temporary closure for two months when it meets next week.

The Bishop Auckland unit is relatively small, with only 345 births last year, compared with 3,261 at the University of North Durham and 2,415 in Darlington Memorial Hospital.

Women booked to have their babies at Bishop Auckland during the closure will be given the choice of transferring to hospitals in Durham City or Darlington or further afield.

Bishop Auckland MP Mrs Goodman said: “There are two problems. The first is that the Government has broken its promise to increase the number of midwives. The second problem is that the trust has not managed the situation well.”

Meanwhile, the changes announced at the 230-bed Friarage Hospital are designed to ensure services are “sustainable in the long term” as well as being more efficient.

It follows an announcement a month ago that South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Friarage and The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, needs to save £22m this financial year.

The main change is that surgical and gynaecological services will become a 30-bed ward.

A series of moves will take place from next month, releasing wards for deep cleaning and minor repairs, before staff and patients move into their new accommodation.

By the end of next month, the new ward lay-out at the Friarage will see the women’s health unit and the Allen surgical ward merging. The adjoining maternity ward will create a 30-inpatient ward with ten day-case beds.

The former Rutson rehabilitation ward will transfer to the vacated Allen ward and the maternity unit will move into the women’s health unit.

A spokeswoman said the moves followed a review to see whether the Friarage was making the best use of beds.

Councillor John Blackie, leader of Richmondshire District Council, said he was mystified how the trust could claim that the changes would save money when no services or jobs were being cut.

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You can contact Barry Nelson by emailing barry.nelson@ nne.co.uk, telephoning 01325-505075, or post comments at northernecho.co.uk/health watch