Health bosses have said no decision will be made about the future of Crowborough birthing unit until after it has met with campaigners fighting to keep it open.
Nusrat Ghani, MP for Sussex Weald, has welcomed confirmation from Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust that a meeting between the Trust, the NHS Kent and Medway ICB, the NHS Surrey and Sussex ICB and Friends of Crowborough Hospital will take place over the coming weeks.
The MP had been angry at the silence from the health trusts over the future of the birthing centre which was “temporarily” closed in October with campaigners told it would reopen in May.
At a meeting of the Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust Board, Ms Ghani where she advocated on behalf of local mums and raised their concerns. She also called for a meeting between all relevant NHS bodies and The Friends of Crowborough Hospital to ensure that feedback from local parents and data which proves the need for the Centre’s reopening is shared and taken into account.
The Chief Executive of Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, Miles Scott, confirmed that such meeting would take place ahead of any decisions about the Birthing Centre’s future are made, and that the Trust is willing to share their data and collaborate on data gathered by Nusrat and The Friends of Crowborough Hospital.
Nusrat Ghani said: “Nothing about the Crowborough Birthing Centre should be closed. I continue to be contacted by expectant mothers, who were hoping to use the site from May, but are not being given the option and are being left in the dark about when the service will reopen.
“We need transparency about how decisions about the Centre’s future are being made and I am pleased that I have secured a confirmation from the Trust to hold a meeting with me and The Friends of Crowborough Hospital to ensure that local parents and our best-in-class midwives are appropriately represented and get the answers they deserve.”
Ms Ghani said she was “hugely grateful” to all the mums who met with her recently to share their stories and to everyone who has contributed to her petition, which gathered over 4,000 entries.
She added: “Please rest assured that I will be sharing this data with the Trust again and continue to put a strong case forward for the centre’s prompt reopening. I will continue to hold the Trust to account to ensure that the meeting does take place, that the Trust’s data is thoroughly examined and that our data is taken into account when any decisions are being made.”