Plea issued to parents over baby unit future
PARENTS are being urged to have their say and help safeguard the future of Macclesfield Hospital’s maternity unit, which is currently shut.
NHS Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is running online focus group meetings and an internet survey to get the views and experiences of people who have used the county’s maternity services.
Health bosses say the information will ‘help inform, shape and develop the work that we do and how we commission in the future’.
At the moment Macclesfield Hospital’s maternity unit is closed - a decision East Cheshire NHS Trust made in March and said is temporary to help ease pressures caused by coronavirus.
This week a midwife from the hospital contacted the Macclesfield Express asking for help publicising ‘this really important local matter’.
The midwife said: “We need as many women and families as possible to speak up about how important our local maternity unit is to them to make sure the service continues.”
The CCG wants to hear from people who have become parents in the last 12 to 18 months as well as those who are expecting a child.
Currently mums from Macclesfield can give birth at Leighton Hospital, in Crewe, or Stockport’s Stepping Hill Hospital.
The maternity unit in Macclesfield shut on March 25, with health bosses saying it was expected to remain shut for six months but this would be reviewed as the coronavirus situation develops.
It was said the decision was taken because the hospital has too few anaesthetists to cover procedures such as caesarean sections as well as an expected rise in patients being treated for Covid-19.
A spokesman for the CCG said: “We are keen to hear the views and experiences of local people when it comes to maternity services in Cheshire.
”We will use what you tell us and the comments you share to help inform, shape and develop the work that we do and how we commission in the future.”
John Wilbraham, chief executive at East Cheshire NHS Trust, said. “East Cheshire NHS Trust took the decision in March to temporarily relocate births from Macclesfield as an urgent safety measure in light of Covid -19.
“This position remains the same and will continue to be monitored on a six weekly basis.”
There will be two focus group meetings, the second of which is on Thursday, July 30, from 11am.
The survey can be filled in by visiting https:// surveymonkey. c o. u k / r / Z 7 C K XLM# Maternity.