'Sad day' say mums as birth centre closure confirmed

Campaigners who fought to save a birthing centre have described the decision to close it for good as a "sad day".

NHS bosses in Leicestershire have finalised the closure of the St Mary's Birth Centre in Melton Mowbray after services were paused last summer.

At a meeting in Melton on Thursday, Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board (ICB) ruled St Mary's was no longer "safe" or "sustainable".

But parents who have used the centre said they were "devastated" to lose both the birthing service and postnatal in-patient ward.

University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust halted deliveries at St Mary's Birth Centre in Melton Mowbray in July saying it was struggling to maintain safe staffing levels.

Commissioning body the ICB on Thursday approved the closure and relocation of services to the midwifery-led unit at Leicester General Hospital.

Generations of families have used St Mary's but the meeting heard there were only 92 births there in 2024-25, less than 1% of all UHL births.

Each birth in Melton costs about £12,000 - more than double the average cost of a midwife-led birth elsewhere.

ICB chief executive Toby Sanders said he appreciated "the strength of feeling and how loved the service has been" but said: "The safety case has reached a tipping point.

"There is a huge duty on us to continue to engage with members of the public to help to shape that future offer."

Richard Mitchell, chief executive of service provider UHL, said it had been a "difficult decision" to make.

He told the board his wife had received postnatal care at St Mary's and he recognised the value local families have placed on the unit.

"I'm sorry about the impact it is having but I am confident the right decision has been reached," he said.

Following the meeting, Maria Laffan, the ICB's chief nursing officer, said she accepted there was "strong emotion".

"The problem is the number of mums choosing to birth at St Mary's," she said.

"That's down to one or two a week - that's not enough to keep that level of competence up."

In August, campaigners marched through Melton to demand the return of services at the baby unit, and a protest took place ahead of the ICB meeting.

Helen Cliffe, lead campaigner who started fighting for the centre more than two decades ago, said she was "devastated but not surprised" at the decision.

"The language of 'temporary' and 'pause' last summer was disingenuous," she said. "They were always going to do it.

"On safety, the CQC whose job it is to monitor safety have never once raised a safety concern. It's a staffing issue, yes, but not a safety issue.

"There was acknowledgement in the room there could have been more done around communication of birth choices.

"I'm absolutely gutted but moreso for the women that will come after me - I've had my children, I so wanted to protect those services for other women."

Expectant mother Caroline Edens, who was outside with partner Tom Peacock, had a water birth at the centre with her first child.

"Nothing felt rushed. It's such an amazing place to be, it felt like a home from home," she said.

Anna Foster, of Asfordby Hill, whose daughter was born at St Mary's in 2021 while in 2023 she had postnatal care there with her second child, said it was an "incredible" place.

"Having a baby there is a really empowering experience," she said.

"You get to choose exactly how you do it and there's minimal intervention there which is exactly what I wanted, being the hospital-phobic person that I am.

"It'll be sad to see it go, for other mums, our own children, it's just an emotional time - it means a lot for a lot of people. It's a very sad day."

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