Maternity transformation

Review of maternity services, 2023 

During 2023, we reviewed our maternity services in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, with a particular focus on the future of our birthing services at the freestanding midwife-led birthing units (FMBUs). This was part of an ongoing programme of work, including earlier public involvement which you can read about further down this page. The FMBUs are units at County Hospital in Stafford and Samuel Johnson Community Hospital in Lichfield, where women with low-risk pregnancies could choose to give birth.  

Birthing services at the two FBMUs were temporarily closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure safe staffing at the consultant-led units at Royal Stoke University Hospital and Queen’s Hospital, Burton. 

A shortage of midwives has meant it has not yet been possible for the two trusts that run the FMBUs to safely re-open them for births. However, the units are providing antenatal and postnatal care, and women continue to have the choice of a consultant-led or midwifery-led birth at Royal Stoke University Hospital and Queen’s Hospital, Burton. 

On 6 December 2023, we held a deliberative event – an online meeting – which 16 people attended. People who registered for the event but couldn’t attend on the day were invited to take part in one-to-one phone calls to give their feedback.

The aims of the event were to: 

• give participants an overview of the birthing services at the FMBUs and the case for change
• explain a proposal which makes permanent the temporary closure of the birthing services at the FMBUs, and how this proposal was reached
• gather feedback about people’s own experiences and the recommended proposal.

You can read the report of findings from the deliberative event:

• Maternity deliberative event report of findings

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB is currently undertaking a service change programme in relation to the birthing services that are temporarily closed. The programme will follow the NHSE guidance ‘Planning, assuring and delivering service change for patients’: planning-assuring-delivering-service-change-v6-1.pdf (england.nhs.uk) 

No decisions have yet been made and we will continue to update this webpage about the programme. 

Earlier conversations about maternity services, 2019 and 2021

In 2019, Together We’re Better (the health and care partnership that was in place before the Integrated Care Board) ran a listening exercise about people’s experiences of local health and care services, which included maternity services. You can read about that involvement on the transformation journey webpage. 

We were able to restart the conversation in summer 2021, when we asked people about their experiences of using maternity services before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other questions included whether people would choose a homebirth, and what would influence their choice about this.  

240 people responded to our survey and 28 people took part in the two online events we held. You can read about what they told us in the Report of findings and the Summary report of findings.

You may also be interested in our Issues Paper (July 2021) which is also available as an easy read Issues Paper.