Midwifery-led maternity unit is an option being considered at Boston hospital

Women in the Boston area have said they are concerned that in future they may have to travel to Lincoln to give birth.

Tracy Pilcher, Chief Nurse with Lincolnshire East Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “That’s a genuine concern we have heard. But if you have a very complicated birth or if you have a baby born very early, mothers and babies are transferred to Nottingham or they might be transferred to Lincoln because those neo-natal units are configured to manage babies born at a very early stage.”

Ms Pilcher was talking after yesterday’s publication of the Lincolnshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan which will shape the future of healthcare in the county for the next five years.

Ms Pilcher added: “The plans we want to talk to the public about are the options of centralising consultant-led maternity services at both Lincoln and Boston and we also want to look at developing a co-located midwifery-led unit at both Lincoln and Boston. Currently women do not have the choice to give birth at a midwifery-led unit because we don’t have those in our maternity units.

“We absolutely understand the concerns of the public because we have already gone and talked to women in the Boston area about what their biggest concerns are and what we need to do to make sure those services are planned and delivered as safely and as sustainably as possible.

“We want to develop more options for women, but if they need emergency treatment they want to feel safe and kow that consultancy-led treatment will be available for them.”