A FORMAL proposal has been made to close Wycombe Hospital’s Birth Centre for a three month period from the start of next month because of “severe staff shortages”.

If it gets the go-ahead expectant mothers will not be able to give birth in High Wycombe from August through to November.

Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust has submitted the plan to Buckinghamshire County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny committee for Public Health Services for discussion on Friday.

A briefing paper on the temporary closure says: “Due to severe staff shortages, the division has identified that it will not be able to provide safe staffing levels across all services during August, September and October. It has therefore looked at alternative service delivery options and has proposed that the safest and least disruptive option is to temporarily close Wycombe Birth Centre from 1 August 2010.”

The paper says the staffing shortfall – the equivalent of 20 midwives – has come about due to “natural turnover” and a small number of midwives who chose to leave or retire following the move of maternity services from Wycombe to Stoke Mandeville last October and did not want to work in Aylesbury.

It added seven midwives are currently on maternity leave while long-term sickness is affecting five to eight more.

The paper says that although Wycombe-based maternity staff will need to change their usual working location, they are contracted to work “cross-site”.

The Trust says 17 midwives have already been recruited but will not be able to start until October. It plans to reopen Wycombe’s Birth Centre the following month.

Currently approximately 30 babies are born every month in Wycombe, while about 410 are born each month in Stoke Mandeville – an estimated 350 of these are doctor-led births.