What are you doing to restore birthing services at NDDH?

Previous FAQ from 3 August 2026:

What are you doing to keep the unit open or prepare for it to reopen?

Significant efforts continue to be targeted towards recruiting into our rota gaps and vacancies. Week commencing 20 July we held interviews for:

• a consultant post but unfortunately we were not able to recruit

• tier two doctors (registrars) - we are now working through the process of on-boarding them as quickly as possible

We have worked to readvertise the post we could not recruit to and have a current obstetric and gynaecology consultant vacancy out to advert. We are also developing alternative consultant posts that may attract interest from different candidates. There is a national shortage of these clinicians but we are doing all we can to attract candidates to Northern Devon, making sure that we have competitive, attractive and compelling job plans for these doctors.

We continue to explore locum/agency cover.