Health board extends suspension of home birthing services

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board has confirmed that its home birthing services will remain temporarily suspended due to pressures on maternity services.

In July the board announced services would be paused until October, citing workforce issues including non-Covid related sickness and staff vacancies. As a consequence, new midwives have been recruited to help ease some of the pressure.

Recent increases in cases of Covid, both in the community and hospital settings have also put midwife services under increased stress.

An update on the situation on the health board’s website apologised to families affected by the suspension of the home birth service and intermittent closures of the Midwifery Led Unit, adding: “We understand this can be unsettling and while we make every effort to keep the unit open, there are some days where we may not be able to do this because of safety.

“Our ability to safely maintain these services for women, birthing people and their families remains under constant review.

Our teams are working tirelessly to maintain optimum service provision, but due to pressures related to the pandemic, we have to manage services to allow us to continue to provide the best possible care and it is our priority that our services maintain safety at all times.

“We apologise for the impact this will have on people using our services. We have recently recruited 29 new midwives who have begun joining us which will help alleviate some of the pressures.

“One-to-one care in labour will be maintained and expertise in midwifery-led care is still available within the main delivery suite, which offers limited access to water birth facilities. ”