Maternity

East Cheshire welcomes the return of maternity services at Macclesfield Hospital - 26th June 2023

Midwives at Macclesfield Hospital are celebrating the return of full maternity services! It’s over three years since the Board of East Cheshire NHS Trust had to suspend maternity services due to the COVID outbreak in March 2020, and it’s back!

“It gives me great pleasure to share the news that we have now met the robust safety criteria required to return our maternity service,” says Chief Executive of East Cheshire NHS Trust, Ged Murphy. “The return of this service could not have happened without the ongoing support of all our staff and partners, and I would like to express my sincere thanks to everyone who has worked alongside us over the past three years.

“This news is fantastic for families who access our maternity services and our midwifery and obstetric staff who have been working at host sites”  

Kate Daly-Brown, Director of Nursing and Quality for East Cheshire NHS Trust, says: “As a local resident in East Cheshire I am passionate about our maternity services. I joined the Trust in September 2021 during the period of time when the service were suspended and was incredibly impressed by our exceptionally committed teams who are passionate about providing a quality maternity service for the local population. The team have adopted the catchphrase  ‘Macc is Back!

“I cannot thank our many partners enough – it has been a privilege to work with them over the past three years and to be in a position to return our full hospital maternity service. We are now fully staffed from a midwifery, anaesthetic and neonatal perspective and will be delighted to welcome our new cohort of international midwives over coming months. In preparation our maternity ward has been refurbished and modernised."

When the service was suspended the team of midwives were either relocated to host hospital sites at Stepping Hill, Wythenshawe and Leighton for women who preferred a hospital-setting birth, or remained as community midwives for women who chose a home birth.

Maternity Services at East Cheshire NHS Trust  - 7th March 2022  

Ged Murphy, Acting Chief Executive at East Cheshire NHS Trust, said: “The Board remains committed to the return of intrapartum care to Macclesfield Hospital when safe to do so. In December 2021, care was further suspended until at least April 2022. It is our ambition to return the service within 12 months of that extended suspension date with the support of the integrated care system and partners.  

“I recognise this news is very disappointing and do not underestimate the impact this will have on our staff working at host trusts and for families who access our maternity services. I apologise that we are not able to return the service at this point and will continue to provide updates on our progress.  

“We have always been clear that returning the service is based on safety which includes the provision of a robust anaesthetic rota. The trust has now received the report from the Royal College of Anaesthetists’ invited review and is considering its recommendations with our partners to determine how this may be achieved. “  

Clare Watson, Accountable Officer of NHS Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “We continue to work closely with East Cheshire NHS Trust and our partners to support the safe return of intrapartum care to Macclesfield Hospital. While we support the widest choice and best possible provision of services and care for local mothers, ensuring their safety is of paramount importance.”  

Intrapartum care continues to be delivered safely with the support of the Trust's partners at Leighton, Stepping Hill and Wythenshawe hospitals; these hospitals are located geographically close to the East Cheshire area we serve, for our patients and staff. Antenatal and postnatal care continues to be provided at Macclesfield Hospital and homebirths and other services from our community settings.  

STATEMENT FROM THE TRUST - CEO, JOHN WILBRAHAM - 21st OCTOBER 2021

"You will be aware that the East Cheshire NHS Trust Board remains committed to returning intrapartum and neo natal care to Macclesfield when safe to do so.  It is with regret that the trust is unable to do this in December 2021.

This decision has been taken based on a worsening outlook for winter and an early indication that additional staffing would be required for the safe return of maternity services without impacting on other specialities.

We continue to have the support of our NHS partners including Leighton, Stepping Hill and Wythenshawe hospitals. The provision of local access to antenatal and postnatal care, along with our homebirth service will continue at Macclesfield Hospital and within our community settings.  

We apologise to all those who have been and will be affected by this news and will provide further updates through our Trust Board meetings and here on our website."

STATEMENT FROM THE TRUST - 2nd JULY 2021

RE - Update on ICU estates work and the return of Intrapartum care at Macclesfield Hospital 

Estates work to significantly upgrade the Intensive Care Unit at Macclesfield Hospital is on track to be completed by the 8^th November following a short unavoidable delay due to knock-on effects of the pandemic on the construction industry.

Regrettably, this delay impacts on the return of intrapartum care to Macclesfield Hospital, given the interdependency of the ICU and the emergency theatre required for maternity services.

It is now our ambition to return full intrapartum services during December 2021, which will allow sufficient lead time to return our staff and infrastructure back on site.

Trust CEO John Wilbraham said, “We acknowledge that expectant mothers hoping to give birth at Macclesfield Hospital during this period will be affected and we apologise.

“Local access to antenatal and postnatal care will continue and women will continue to have the choice of giving birth at home or at Leighton hospital, Stepping Hill hospital or Wythenshawe hospital.

“We will be contacting all women who were due to give birth at Macclesfield to discuss their birth plans with immediate effect.

“I would like to thank and acknowledge the hard work of all our staff who have been and continue to be affected by these changes.”

The position was discussed at the Public Trust Board meeting on 1^st July, the papers can be accessed here

STATEMENT FROM THE TRUST - 7th JUNE 2021

Estates work has now commenced on site at Macclesfield Hospital to significantly upgrade the current ICU unit which has been temporarily relocated to STU for the duration of the work.

The trust has been working towards a completion date of the end of September 2021, however despite all efforts, the global pandemic has had a significant knock on effect on the production and sourcing of raw building materials for our contractors which has resulted in an unforeseen delay.

The trust is working closely with the contractor and its suppliers to minimise this delay.

Trust CEO John Wilbraham said, “We recognise that the delay will have an impact on staff in ICU, STU and maternity and apologise to all those affected by this news. Further communications will be shared directly with these teams via senior managers.

“We also acknowledge that expectant mothers hoping to give birth at Macclesfield Hospital during this time will be unable to do so. Local access to antenatal and postnatal care will continue and women will continue to have the choice of giving birth at Leighton hospital, Stepping Hill hospital or Wythenshawe hospital. Our home birth service is not affected and is also a birth choice for all women of East Cheshire.

“I would like to thank and acknowledge the hard work of all our staff who have been, and continue to be affected by these changes.”

STATEMENT FROM THE TRUST - 5th FEBRUARY 2021

Following yesterday’s public trust board meeting, we would like to share that despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Board has reaffirmed its commitment to reinstate full maternity and neonatal services at Macclesfield Hospital in September 2021.  

As many of you will be aware, we were required to temporarily suspend births at Macclesfield Hospital last March due to Covid-19 pressures. One of the main challenges we faced was limitations within our intensive care unit, which almost overnight, had to be divided into two separate areas in order for us to care for Covid-19 positive patients and Covid-19 negative patients. These added pressures meant we were unable to also operate and staff an emergency maternity theatre. 

In addition, the number of Covid-19 positive patients admitted into our hospital beds has required additional capacity to be provided.  

In yesterday's meeting, it was announced that the Board has committed around £2m to upgrade our intensive care unit which will enable us to safely manage Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 patients in one location. The timescale for delivery of this scheme has been estimated at around six months and the success of this will be a key factor in the return of the maternity services later this year. 

Until then, we will continue to offer local access to antenatal care and women of East Cheshire will continue to have the choice of giving birth at neighbouring hospitals Leighton, Stepping Hill and Wythenshawe.  Our home birth service is also fully reinstated for those who would like to choose this option.   

John Wilbraham, Trust Chief Executive said: “It has always been the Board’s intention to return maternity services as soon as we can safely do so, but none of us could have predicted the longevity of Covid-19 and the impact it has had on other services.   

“We are taking every step possible to keep patients and staff safe whilst working to achieve the return of our full maternity service by September 2021.  

“We would like to thank host partners for continuing to provide high-quality maternity services to the women of Cheshire East, where feedback from new mums giving birth continues to be positive. I would particularly wish to thank and acknowledge the hard work of our staff who are temporarily redeployed to other trusts.” 

We appreciate that the further suspension will be disappointing for women who were hoping to give birth at Macclesfield in the next six months and we offer our apologies to those affected.  

We will continue to work closely with our host partners to provide high-quality maternity services during the ongoing temporary suspension and our midwives will be contacting all women affected to discuss the best option for them. If you have any concerns or would like to speak to a midwife, please don’t hesitate to contact us on Ecn-tr.maternity@nhs.net or 01625 661145

The full public board paper is available to view here and we will share any further developments in due course.

MATERNITY SERVICES CHANGES AT MACCLESFIELD HOSPITAL - MARCH 2020

Please note that in order to meet pressures relating to Covid-19, births are being temporarily relocated from Macclesfield Hospital to neighbouring maternity units as a safety measure.

The measure is necessary because East Cheshire NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, has a small number of anaesthetists who would be unable to provide cover both for maternity-related procedures such as emergency caesarian sections and an expected rise in patients being treated for Covid-19.  

Any women due to give birth at the hospital from Wednesday, March 25^th 2020 onwards will instead deliver at one of our partner trusts close to their home.

Women should have been contacted by their midwife but if anyone has not or has any urgent queries or concerns, including relating to the onset of labour please contact one of the following:

• For Stepping Hill Hospital Labour Ward:0161 419 5551 / 3
• For Royal Stoke Hospital Labour Ward: 01782 672300
• For Leighton Hospital Labour Ward: 01270 612144 / 01270 273116
• For Wythenshawe Hospital Labour Ward: 0161 291 294

Read more - Pregnancy and Coronavirus

The maternity safety information for BAME women is now available from NHS England.

This aims to support women from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic backgrounds using Maternity services. This information builds on existing COVID-19 specific messages highlighting the need for extra vigilance of complications while pregnant.

Available in 11 languages. Scan the QR code on the image below or click here.