Closure nearer for city maternity unit

PLANS to close one of Glasgow’s maternity hospitals moved a step closer yesterday as health chiefs launched a consultation process.

Either the Queen Mother’s Maternity Hospital at Yorkhill or the Southern General Hospital’s maternity unit looks set to shut following a review of Glasgow’s neonatal services.

Health chiefs said falling birth rates in the area meant there was insufficient demand for three maternity hospitals.

A report submitted to NHS Greater Glasgow’s monthly board meeting noted that the Queen Mother’s and Southern General hospitals were operating at about 60 per cent of capacity and were hampered by "ageing facilities".

The report also noted that the Princess Royal Hospital was not making full use of its 6,500 birth capacity. However, closing the two-year-old Princess Royal unit, which delivers 4,800 babies a year compared to about 3,000 at each of the other two hospitals, is not thought to be a serious option.

Board members at NHS Greater Glasgow approved proposals for a consultation exercise involving professional organisations and mothers’ groups to decide which of the sites should close. The decision will be taken in 12 months’ time.

Not even the influx of about 900 new mothers a year from the west of Scotland after the closure of the Vale of Leven Hospital’s maternity unit in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, would justify a third Glasgow facility, the report argues. It added that delivery units which catered for fewer than 3,000 births annually risked losing their intensive care facilities, and changes to neonatal care meant mothers were already spending less time in hospital, reducing the demand for beds.

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow said the consultation was due to take place over the next three months. She said: "Absolutely no decision has been taken at this stage and the board has taken no view on which way it wants to go. That is the reason why we have put this process out to consultation.

"We realise the importance of getting the views of everyone involved in maternity services, particularly women’s groups."

But she added: "Even the clinicians recognise there is a need to reduce the number of maternity units from three to two and we are now at the stage where we can consult those with an interest in maternity services on how it should be achieved."

Campaigners fear that the children’s hospital at Yorkhill, one of the best in Europe, would not be able to stand alone and have vowed to battle the plans.

Pauline McNeill, the local MSP, said: "They will take the maternity services away from the Queen Mother’s Maternity Hospital over my dead body.

"Everybody knows the importance of having child and maternity services together."

It is not the first time that the Queen Mother’s Hospital, opened in 1964, has been threatened with closure.

The Acute Services Review in 1999 proposed relocation of the children’s hospital to a new unit at the Southern General. But the health board was forced to withdraw proposals after fierce opposition from parents.

Dr Kevin Hanretty, the chairman of the city’s obstetric and gynaecological sub-committee, said: "The current sites for safe delivery at both hospitals do not lend themselves to modern practice and substantial modernisation is required."

But he added: "There are strong clinical cases to be made for each.

"The Queen Mother’s is next to one of Britain’s best children’s hospitals. The Southern General is beside one of the best equipped general hospitals in the land."

Last year, the independent healthcare company, Dr Foster, reported that women in Glasgow received a higher standard of care in maternity units than those in England and Wales.