Home births suspended due to staff sickness - trust

A health trust has suspended its home birth service for 24 hours after "significant levels of sickness" among staff.

The East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, which covers most of East Sussex, said services had been suspended until 07:00 GMT on Saturday.

Despite the high levels of illness "compounded by flu and other seasonal illnesses", it said staffing levels within the midwifery team were "strong and sustainable".

A spokesperson said: "All mums-to-be who could be impacted have been individually contacted and no scheduled births have been affected."

A spokesperson for East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said: "Due to significant levels of sickness affecting our maternity team [on Friday], compounded by flu and other seasonal illnesses, we have regrettably had to temporarily suspend home births across our catchment for 24 hours.

"This includes births at the Eastbourne Maternity Unit (EMU), which is operated by our home birth team, although no births were scheduled to take place at the EMU today."

The trust said it was a short-term measure and all its maternity services would be operational on Saturday.

They added: "Routine staffing levels within our Eastbourne midwifery team remain strong and sustainable.

"The unexpectedly high rates of staff absence today have meant that we are flexibly deploying our available midwives to ensure we continue to provide safe care".

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