THE last baby may have been born at Ludlow Maternity Hospital.

Health chiefs have announced that the unit is to remain closed until further notice but dependent upon a review it may not open again.

They say that the decision has been made in the best interest of mothers and babies.

Sarah Jamison, Head of Midwifery at the Shrewbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust says that it is important to base the midwives where most of the babies are born.

“Unfortunately, the issues which have been affecting our maternity service continue. With over 98 per cent of our women giving birth away from our rural Midwife Led Units, we are having to deploy our midwives where our mothers are choosing, or are,” said Sarah Jamison, Head of Midwifery at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust.

But this has angered campaigners who have been fighting for years to secure the future of a maternity unit in Ludlow.

“Over the last few years, the maternity unit in Ludlow has been closed at short notice several times,” said Tracey Huffer, a nurse and Shropshire councillor. “That means that women anxious about giving birth would have been crazy to plan for a local delivery.”