Maternity services in one of two north London hospitals may close due to a falling birth rate in the area, the NHS has said.
The North Central London Integrated Care Board (ICB) launched a public consultation on Tuesday over the potential closure of maternity services at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead or Whittington Hospital in Archway.
In a statement, they said that services would need to be changed in the area to reflect “falling birth rates and increasingly complex care” needs.
“There are also challenges including a high number of staffing vacancies in some professions, and services not always being able to meet best practice standards,” the statement added.
The North Central London ICB covers Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington.
The proposals would see the number of hospital sites delivering maternity and neonatal care in the area reduced from five to four, and the possible closure of birth suites at the Edgware Birthing Centre.
The NHS claimed this could lead to “more resilient services” with the remaining units upgraded to provide “high level care”, backed by £40m of new investment.
But Tulip Siddiq, MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, said it would be a “tragedy to lose such an important service”.
“I’m very concerned about the suggestion that our local maternity unit could be closed, given the number of local residents who I know rely on it and some of the transport difficulties in reaching other north London hospitals with maternity services.”
She said that she would make it clear to NHS bosses that “there must not be any downgrading of services available to people in Hampstead and Kilburn”.
Dr Jo Sauvage, the chief medical officer at the North Central London ICB, told BBC Radio London that half of the cots in the Royal Free’s neonatal unit were not in use on any given day.
She added: “We want to make sure that all pregnant people within north central London have access to the same, high quality, safe services and also positive patient experience.”
The Whittington’s maternity unit was rated as “requires improvement” by the health and social care regulator earlier this year. In their report, the Care Quality Commission said the service did not have dedicated midwifery staff to respond to the maternity triage telephone line and that many staff did not have mandatory training, particularly on reporting abuse.
The public consultation will close on March 17.
Earlier this week, the Standard reported how four primary schools in Hackney will close at the start of the next school year due to a significant decline in the number of school-aged children” in the borough.
Hackney Council said the housing crisis, Brexit and the pandemic were some of the reasons for families leaving the capital.
