Permanent maternity changes at Westmorland General proposed

Proposals to make an on-call midwife service at the Westmorland General Hospital a permanent fixture, is being discussed at public consultations across South Lakes over the next six weeks.

The Helme Chase maternity unit has been operating a temporary on-call midwife service overnight and at weekends since 2014.

This interim change was made almost two years ago by Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust.

It means that while women can still deliver their babies at Helme Chase 24/7, the staff are no longer on duty in the unit overnight and at weekends if there are no women or babies to care for.

Instead they operate an on-call service and if a woman goes into labour during these hours they arrange to meet her at the unit or at home.

In 2014, South Lakes MP Tim Farron condemned the changes, saying it would be 'intolerable for local mums'.

The Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group say the hours released mean the Trust can use it's midwives more effectively, to improve maternity care: