Mayor Dave Writes: Fighting the Plans to Close Maternity Services at Bedford Hospital

In his column for the July edition of the Bedford Bulletin, Mayor Dave Hodgson wrote of his disgust at the plans to close maternity services at Bedford Hospital and to force the 3,000-plus mothers who give birth there every year to travel longer distances away from home and from family to Milton Keynes.

Here's the piece in full:

'The Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes NHS Healthcare Review has proposed ending all births at Bedford Hospital, as part of a wider downgrade. This is utterly unacceptable and is a deeply flawed proposal for a growing local population.

It wants to force the 3,000-plus mothers who give birth in Bedford every year to travel for up to an hour to Milton Keynes. This will take them away from their home, their family and their support networks, and it is simply wrong for them and for Bedford Borough and its future.

I have warned throughout this bloated, wasteful review process that it is fixated on wholesale removals of vital services. So these proposals are not surprising, but they are appalling. £4.5 million has been spent so far under the pretence of 'listening to people', but they're now doing the exact opposite of what people have told them.

Closing maternity services in our county town would bring to an end 200 years of hospital births in Bedford. It would be extremely harmful for the future of Bedford Hospital as a whole, and local residents will not accept it. Evidence published recently by the council demonstrates they should not have to, with better ways to achieve sustainability than the crude, blunt tool of closing vital services.

There is some hope, however. Soon after announcing the proposals, in the face of a hostile reaction, the Review announced it is being 'paused'. In the meantime, politicians of all parties and, crucially, residents across Bedford Borough have an opportunity to speak with one, united voice against the downgrade of our hospital.

So please get involved in any way you can, including by signing my petition on this. Building the broadest possible campaign is our best chance as a community of saving Bedford Hospital as we know it.'

You can sign Mayor Dave's petition to save maternity services at Bedford Hospital here