A growing wave of closures affecting midwife-led maternity units in England is raising concerns among healthcare advocates and patient rights groups. Since 2019, twelve birth centres have ceased operations, with six of those closures occurring after Labour came to power in July 2024. An additional four units have been designated as temporarily closed for periods extending up to six years, prompting childbirth organizations to question whether these facilities will ever resume operations. Two other centres have shuttered due to infrastructure deterioration at their host hospitals, with reopening not expected for several years.
The affected facilities include permanent closures in Rossendale in east Lancashire; Edgware in north London; Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire; Stafford and Lichfield in Staffordshire; and Pontefract in West Yorkshire. Long-term temporary closures include Huddersfield’s birth centre, which has remained shuttered since November 2020, and Ingleside in Salford, closed since January 2022. Services at the Crowborough facility in east Sussex were halted temporarily in October 2025 due to staffing constraints. Parallel to these closures, NHS bodies in England and Wales are suspending home birth services for extended periods, with some suspensions lasting up to 14 months.
NHS leadership attributes the closures and service suspensions primarily to a shortage of midwives across the health system, declining birth rates, increased complexity in childbirth cases, and a rise in caesarean sections. Patient advocacy organizations contend that the loss of local services forces women to travel greater distances during pregnancy and childbirth, undermining their ability to make informed choices about their care. The Royal College of Midwives warned that reduced access to midwife-led services may push women toward private care options or unattended home births.
Some recent developments offer limited optimism. Gloucester hospitals trust announced that Cheltenham birth centre will reopen in February following a 2022 closure, with home birth services resuming in January. However, additional closures may be imminent, as senior NHS leaders have cautioned that up to twenty consultant-led maternity units at acute hospitals could require closure to maintain safety standards. Maternity services in Norfolk face potential consolidation, while the North Devon district hospital’s maternity unit remains closed due to staffing shortages. Health Secretary Yvette Cooper is scheduled to release an action plan addressing maternity and neonatal care challenges before the end of the year.
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