Somerset NHS Trust announced that Yeovil Hospital had taken the decision to close both its Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) and Maternity Unit for an initial period of six months following safety concerns about the care of babies and mothers. The decision seems to have been made following a CQC inspection finding the paediatric services of the unit in need of improvement that ongoing and significant staff shortages have not allowed them to make and instead put further strain to an already stretched service. This means that local people need to travel in some cases for over 35 miles to reach the next closest maternity unit causing a lot of insecurity to pregnant couples.
We have seen an increased volume of new birth injury enquiries coming in on the back of this decision as well as a number of parents expressing concerns about the care they and their babies received during birth at Yeovil in the year leading up to this decision.
If you or a loved one are worried that the care you received may have impacted on your or your baby’s health call Michelle Biddulph or a team member today because we may be able to help you. To have a free confidential discussion with a member of our team call us on 0800 044 8488.