Northern Trust suspends Homebirth Service

By Q Radio News

The Northern Trust is temporarily suspending bookings for its Homebirth Service.

It's blaming extreme pressures within the ambulance service and challenging midwifery staffing levels.

The trust says due to the volume of calls and delays at emergency departments there may be in turn a delay to ambulance response times which could have devastating consequences during a home birth.

The situation will be reviewed on a weekly basis.

A spokesperson said: ''The Trust’s most recent communication with NIAS confirms that its service is currently experiencing extreme pressures due to the volume of calls and delays at Emergency Departments and that whilst all calls are triaged, there may a delay to NIAS response times and an immediate response cannot be guaranteed, although NIAS will always seek to provide the most immediate response possible to the most clinically urgent calls.

''The impact of a delay in an emergency response during a homebirth could have devastating consequences and it is in the interests of the safety and wellbeing of women and their babies that this decision is being taken.

''This will be reviewed on a weekly basis and the service will be reinstated as soon as possible.

''The reasons for this temporary suspension will also be discussed with women who have already booked for the Homebirth Service.

''However, if these women continue to choose to have their baby at home despite the advice, as is their right, we will provide a midwifery on-call rota.  

''At present, midwifery staffing levels are challenging due to community transmission levels and staff needing to self-isolate, however at present we are combining teams to provide an on-call rota.''