NHS shuts a dozen birth centres since 2019 as midwife crisis squeezes choice

Six midwife-led birth centres in England have shut for good since Labour entered government in July 2024, part of a dozen closures since 2019 that campaigners call a devastating erosion of choice. The permanent casualties are spread across Rossendale in east Lancashire, Edgware in north London, Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, Stafford and Lichfield in Staffordshire, and Pontefract in West Yorkshire. Trusts that pull the plug usually say the same thing: there aren't enough midwives to run the service safely. Four more units have been shut 'temporarily' for as long as six years, while two others folded because the hospitals housing them are literally crumbling — and won't be back for years.

The squeeze isn't just about buildings. NHS bodies in England and Wales have been suspending home birth services for up to 14 months at a stretch, narrowing where women can deliver. The drivers, according to the Guardian, are a nationwide midwife shortage, a falling birthrate, increasingly complex births and more caesarean sections. Hazel Williams, chief executive of the rights group Birthrights, called the restrictions 'shocking' and said they strip women of the right to decide what happens to their bodies. 'These are not luxury options or nice-to-haves,' she said.

The Royal College of Midwives warns the fallout could be stark: women who can't get midwife-led care on the NHS may end up paying privately or giving birth at home with no health professional in the room. Hannah Leonard, the college's chief policy officer and deputy chief midwife, said that choice 'is being eroded' even though the evidence shows birth centres and home births improve outcomes for some women and babies. The National Childbirth Trust's acting chief executive, Tope Medupin, said losing a local service means longer journeys, higher costs and fewer options 'at one of the most important times in their lives.'

Some closures have dragged on for years. Huddersfield's birth centre shut in November 2020 as a pandemic measure and still hasn't reopened — the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS trust says no decision has been made and it can't give a timeframe. Ingleside in Salford, open only since 2018, has been dark since January 2022. Midwife-led births at Crowborough in east Sussex were halted in October 2025 after repeated last-minute closures. Nusrat Ghani, the MP for Sussex Weald, accused the trust of breaking 'numerous promises' and suggested it may be keeping the closure labelled temporary to dodge a formal public consultation.

There is some movement the other way. Gloucester hospitals trust said last week that Cheltenham's birth centre will reopen in February after shutting in 2022, with home births resuming in January. But a senior NHS leader has warned up to 20 consultant-led maternity units in England may need to close to keep women and babies safe, and Norfolk bosses last week proposed centralising county care in Norwich — putting units at King's Lynn and Great Yarmouth in the frame. North Devon district hospital in Barnstaple has been closed for months, home births included, for want of staff.

Health secretary Yvette Cooper is due to publish a maternity and neonatal action plan before Christmas. The Department of Health and Social Care didn't address the closures directly, with a spokesperson saying every woman and baby deserves safe care, that strengthening the workforce is central, and that the NHS now has a record number of midwives — more than 600 added in the past year.