Yeovil Hospital: Maternity Unit

Rachel Gilmour Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Adam Dance (Yeovil) (LD)]

I start by thanking the fantastic staff at Yeovil district hospital’s maternity unit and paediatric staff across the country for their hard work. I also thank the Minister for Secondary Care for coming to the Chamber this evening to respond to the issues raised, which are important for Yeovil and South Somerset.

In January, the Care Quality Commission inspected paediatric services at Yeovil district hospital. It issued a section 29A notice because it assessed that the hospital failed to meet regulations relating to staffing and governance, and therefore required significant improvement. On Monday 12 May, the hospital trust decided to temporarily close the special care baby unit at YDH from 19 May, initially for six months. That means that the hospital will also be unable to safely provide care during labour and birth at the maternity unit, meaning that the unit is effectively closed. Care of pregnant people due to give birth will now be transferred to Musgrove Park in Taunton, Dorchester county hospital, the Royal united hospital in Bath or Salisbury hospital.

[Rachel Gilmour (Tiverton and Minehead) (LD)]

I am sure that my hon. Friend knows about the problems that we have had at Tiverton district hospital. I was lucky enough to have had my three sons at the old Tiverton hospital. I am sure that people not being able to go to Yeovil hospital to give birth will push down—literally—into Tiverton hospital, but I remind my hon. Friend that there was an incident a couple of years ago when one of my constituents delivered her fifth child in a pub car park, because Tiverton hospital did not have the capacity to take her in. Does he agree that the closure of maternity services at Yeovil hospital impacts not just Dorset and Somerset, but the hospital in my constituency?

[Adam Dance]

I agree with my hon. Friend and I will come to that point later in my remarks.

In letters and at meetings, I have directly asked senior leaders at the trust for reassurance that the service will reopen after six months, but they have been unable to give it. My No. 1 priority is my constituents’ health and safety. I appreciate that the decision was difficult and that patient safety was at its heart. The safety of mothers and their babies must come first, but the way in which the decision was reached and implemented has been disgraceful. It has created huge fear and anger in Yeovil and may put people’s health at risk.

The hospital trust’s leadership team says that high levels of sickness among senior hospital staff caused gaps in the rota, but I have been informed that those staff are off sick because of work-related stress that was reportedly caused by a lack of support, a toxic work culture and bullying from management. That is not good enough. Clinicians have been working desperately hard to provide quality care and have been trying to work alongside management to improve the service, but they have found management to be unsupportive. It seems that the real issue is about management and about supporting and retaining staff.

After the CQC inspection, it was up to the hospital trust to plan a clear response and to ensure safe maternity services at Yeovil hospital. Despite money apparently not being a problem, there was a lacklustre attempt at recruitment and locums were brought in. The hospital leadership team waited until the last minute to reach a decision, and closed the maternity unit with little or no consultation with staff, patients and stakeholders, such as Somerset council and MPs like me. It is an insult that the hard-working staff knew about the closure only six days before it was due to happen. Some of them were told on Teams and others found out on social media—that is not how to treat staff.

It is a disgrace that expectant parents were given such short notice and that the hospital trust did not provide them with advanced and detailed information about the temporary closure. Yeovil hospital charity has been fundraising over the last few months for the maternity unit. It had already raised £2,000 and was due to have another huge fundraiser this month. The charity does great work for the hospital, but it too was left in the dark, which is not good enough.

It is especially worrying that a decision made to protect people may put their health at risk. Many expectant parents have told me about their fears about capacity at other hospitals and about travel times to Taunton, Dorchester or Bath. Last year there were approximately 1,300 births at Yeovil hospital. Most of the patients who would have been cared for at Yeovil hospital will go to Musgrove Park in Taunton, where staff have already raised concerns about not having enough capacity to manage their own patient numbers.