LOCAL mothers and families have met with birthing groups and charities, representatives from Frome Birthing Centre and the Royal United Hospital in Bath, and town councillors, to discuss the impact on local women of Frome’s birthing facility remaining closed until at least October.
Home and community births in Frome have been suspended since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the town’s birthing centre was closed. Now, due to national staff shortages among midwives, the centre has remained temporarily shut and is not due to re-open until October.
Local women met with staff from Frome Birthing Centre and local childbirth groups at a meeting held at the town hall on Friday 2nd September. Then last week, Frome Town Council invited the groups to a council meeting where they could talk about the frustration and anxiety which is felt among expectant parents who are unable to give birth in the community.
One mother in Frome, Iris, who is currently expecting her second child said, “The suspension of community and home births is a huge and tragic source of anxiety and trauma for local families that has gone on for far, far too long. As someone preparing for a birth and whose first choice would never be to labour in a busy hospital 45+ minutes away, the uncertainty and ambiguity is extremely challenging and stressful. The whole thing is providing a major source of stress for those already very vulnerable.”
Echoing parents’ concerns about the challenges involved in travelling to other hospitals to give birth, Amber Strong, a local doula and vice-chair of Maternity Voices Partnership said, “Losing the birth centre makes the assumption that people have access to a car. Travelling is just not a feasible option for many families, there is also the additional stress of how you get to the hospital. There are many logistical reasons for why people in rural areas want home births.”
Deputy chief nurse and director of Frome Birthing Centre, Sarah Merritt said, “Firstly we are really sorry we have had to be put in a position where we have suspended births in the community and birthing unit, there is a national shortage of midwives and we do not have what we need to run our service safely.
“Due to Covid, many midwives left the service or brought their retirement forward early and this has created recruitment challenges. Also, student midwives now have to pay for their university fees, which has created challenges and the more mature students in particular do not want to do the training because of it. There are things being done to try and attract and retain students onto courses.”
During the meeting at Frome Town Council, Sarah said, “We look after around 5,000 mums every year. There are lots of points in that mother’s journey where we have to find midwives to support them and we haven’t had the staff to provide care in all points of that journey. I have had to pull my staff into acute units until this is resolved.”
Sarah added, “Please do be reassured that there is no way we are losing Frome maternity services. We have had some success in recruiting and have staff starting in the next month or so. We want to re-open in October with the expectation that we can resume some services then. We will keep you informed.”
The Friends of Frome Hospital said, “Sarah’s done a tremendous job in recruitment and she should be applauded.”
Following a breakout discussion during the town council meeting, cllr Carla Collenette confirmed that the discussion points will be collated and Frome Town Council (FTC) will look at which points they can act on and also be shared with the maternity services.
Cllr Collenette recommended that FTC support a petition set up by the NCT that has been created to amplify the issue and raise awareness, and help to promote this further via the town council’s communication channels, plus write to the NHS decision-makers inviting them to discuss possible solutions and how FTC and the Frome community might be able to help, all of which was unanimously agreed by councillors.
