'Late summer' before decision over future of services is made

SOMERSET health bosses won't decide whether it is feasible to reopen key maternity services at Yeovil Hospital until at least the late-summer.

- DANIEL MUMBY

The Somerset NHS Foundation Trust announced on May 12 that it would be closing Yeovil's birthing and special care baby units (SCBU) for a minimum of six months, following an official warning notice from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) about the standard of care being provided.

Yeovil MP Adam Dance led a peaceful protest outside the hospital alongside local patients when the closure came into force on May 19, stating he would be demanding resignations within the trust's senior leadership team if the closure was not reversed.

Trust chief executive Jonathan Higman has now given verbal assurances that he and his colleagues will do everything possible to reopen the service - but added that no decision would be taken until a formal report has been completed in mid-August.

He also said that the decision to close the maternity services was entirely independent to the ongoing changes to Yeovil's stroke services, stating that trust was committed to keeping hospital services in the town.

Jonathan Higman, chief executive of the NHS Somerset integrated care board (ICB), has now given verbal assurances that he and his colleagues will do everything possible to reopen the service - but added that no decision would be taken until a formal report has been completed in mid August.

He also said that the trust's decision to close the maternity services was entirely independent to the ongoing changes to Yeovil's stroke services, stating that trust was committed to keeping hospital services in the town.

The ICB brings together representatives from Somerset's various health services (including the hospital trust) to decide how health funding should be distributed across the county.

Mr Higman made a statement on the maternity services at an ICB meeting at the Victoria Park Community Centre in Bridgwater on Thursday morning (May 22).