Rachel and campaigner Kirsty Southwell have met with local health bosses to make the case for the return of a maternity and children’s service to the Alexandra Hospital.
On Friday (July 21st), Rachel and Kirsty sat down with the Divisional Director for Women and Children’s Services, the Director of Midwifery and the Deputy Chief Executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
Following the meeting, Rachel said:
“I’m an optimist by nature, but you always have to be realistic when going into meetings with local health bosses because we have opposing views on what services should be provided at the Alex, hence why we had this meeting.
“Although the NHS is receiving record amounts of funding and there are more doctors and nurses working for the Acute Trust than when I was first elected, local health bosses remain wedded to the centralisation of services.
Despite the outcome of the meeting, Rachel remains committed to fighting to return a maternity and children’s service, and she’s affirmed that commitment in her Long-Term Plan for the Delivery of Health and Social Care in Redditch and the Villages.
“I continue to believe a maternity and children’s service should be provided at the Alex,” Rachel added.
“My Long-Term Plan sets out how this can be achieved, with a focus on recruiting even more doctors and nurses.
“We’re not giving up and we will continue the fight to return these services to our hospital.”
Kirsty said:
“I'm disappointed they won't return maternity and children's services yet, but I'm grateful they listened to my concerns and that I spoke up for the people and children of Redditch and the surrounding areas.
“There's a need for our services especially with our town ever growing. We will continue to be a thorn in the Trust’s side.
“We've been without our services for years and people are struggling to get to Worcester and other hospitals due to lack of funds, traffic on roads and road works. What's it got to take for our services to return?
“I don't want anyone else to go through what I went through because losing a child is a pain no one should feel. Our lives and our children's lives are at risk.”
