Berwick relays views to NHS commissioners
The reinstatement of deliveries at Berwick Maternity Unit can not come quick enough, according to more than 60 members of the public who attended a public meeting in the town to register their views.
The vast majority of those present favoured option one of two proposals put forward by Northumbria NHS Trust for the future of midwifery-led care here - to reinstate services at the BMU as they were before suspension last August - as opposed to operating a 24-hour on call service.
But there were strong calls for a third option - to improve the breadth of services that were previously provided, so fewer women would have to travel to give birth.
Matthew Knox, Vicar of Tweedmouth, Spittal and Scremerston, highlighted the dangers of being so far away from specialist help. “I have done funerals for people who died in ambulances,” he told commissioners NHS North of Tyne, who arranged the meeting as part of the public consultation into the future of the unit. “I’m doing a funeral for someone this week who, I’m told, if they lived in Newcastle they wouldn’t be dead. That’s how serious it is,” he said.
Christine, a student midwife who has recently moved to the area, said: “I can see both points of view, but how much does a life cost? Berwick is in the middle of nowhere and there’s two lives on your hands. With hospitals an hour away I can understand the community’s problems. No disrespect to the ambulance service or paramedics, but they are not trained to perform deliveries.”
County Councillor Ian Lindley told the meeting that improving patient transport was a priority for Northumberland’s new Health and Wellbeing board, which will discuss the issue later this month.
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Weather for Berwick-Upon-Tweed
Saturday 25 May 2013
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 5 C to 17 C
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