A FRESH plea has been issued to reopen beds at Stroud's Maternity Unit this week. 

Stroud MP Dr Simon Opher said that the closed postnatal beds in the town's maternity unit 'must' re-open, adding that they are 'very much missed' in a debate at Westminster Hall about maternity services across Gloucestershire on Wednesday. 

Midwife staffing numbers in the county have been an issue for several years with the Aveta Birth unit in Cheltenham and the six postnatal beds at Stroud Maternity Hospital having been closed since 2022.

Chief nurse and director of quality Matt Holdaway ruled out reopening the services in Cheltenham and Stroud at a health overview and scrutiny committee in May. 

During a visit in July former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and former Stroud MP Siobhan Baillie spoke to the SNJ about fully reopening Stroud Maternity Hospital, where postnatal beds are currently only available for six to 12 hours after a birth.

This week fresh calls have been made by the new MP for the area for the beds to reopen. 

He said: “Maternity care in the Stroud area has been a big issue for the past couple of years in particular.

“Although the unit is open for intrapartum care, it does not have postnatal beds, so women are generally choosing it less often.

“Stroud Maternity is a very much loved and valued service and we are missing the six closed postnatal beds.

“The League of Friends at Stroud hospital are fabulous and have been providing extra services for postnatal and antenatal mums for some time.

“We now have an interim plan whereby we are going to open a sort of day hospital in the maternity unit so that at least mothers can come and have a bath while someone else looks after their baby, for example, and they can receive advice from health visitors and midwives.

“That is an interim plan - I do not want to say that it is a good replacement.

“We must get those postnatal beds open, so I am also due to meet the maternity and neonatal voices partnership, which is a crucial agent that we must talk to.

“We also need a commitment from the ICB and the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS foundation trust to reopen all six post natal beds at Stroud maternity hospital.”

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been approached for comment.