Campaigners fight on to keep key services at scandal-hit hospital

Jeremy Hunt approved proposals to downgrade some services and dissolve the scandal-hit Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust after administrators concluded it was neither financially or clinically viable in the long term.

The shake-up will mean Stafford Hospital could still keep consultant-led maternity services pending a review by NHS England, rather than the proposed midwife-staffed unit as administrators had recommended.

The main campaign group Support Stafford Hospital (SSH) has seized on that potential reversal, calling it “a start” in the battle to retain the other key services at the site.

Last April 50,000 people marched through the town in support of keeping the hospital as it was.

Sue Hawkins, from SSH, welcomed the suggestion a consultant-led maternity unit could be kept at the site but added that it was important to “get it right” this time around.

She said: “We’ve got to see what that comes to and that’s looking to the future, with NHS England working with the commissioners (the clinical commissioning group). I’m hopeful but let’s wait and see – the proof of the pudding is in the eating.”

She believes that with consultant-led maternity services now back under consideration, any down-sizing of paediatric care would also need reviewing.

“We’re concerned about safety, and the same could be said for paediatrics,” she said.

Stafford borough councillor Ann Edgeller said that with thousands of troops returning to Stafford from bases in Germany and 7,500 new homes needed in the next few years, the area’s population was going to increase, meaning maternity services with obstetricians on the wards were crucial.