Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Health Trust is consulting over future of maternity
A HEALTH Trust is seeking to hold a public consultation on the future of maternity services in its area.
Maternity services are provided from the Northern Trust’s two acute hospitals, Antrim Area and Causeway.
But concerns have been raised over the sustainability of services at the Causeway facility in Coleraine, where the number of births is lower.
The trust wants to explore two alternative options.
The first involves moving all consultant-led births to Antrim with a freestanding midwifery-led unit in Causeway.
The second option involves moving all births to Antrim.
The trust has confirmed that it will seek approval at a board meeting on Thursday to open a public consultation on options for the future of services.
A spokesman said: “The current configuration of maternity services in the Northern Trust is a fragile and vulnerable service model that is unsustainable.
“We urgently need to provide a model for maternity services that addresses current challenges, including issues to do with staffing and recruitment and neonatal care.”