Why is this happening?

Why are birthing services being temporarily suspended at North Devon District Hospital?

From the middle of August, we will not have enough doctors to provide safe birthing care to everyone at North Devon District Hospital.

We have made the difficult decision to temporarily close the maternity unit from the 11 August, because we cannot promise that women and birthing people would have the appropriate medical support that they may need. The safety of women, babies and families is our top priority.

How many doctors are you short?

We have projected that we were short of consultants by up to 50% and our tier 2 (registrar) doctors by 40%. This includes existing locum and substantive staff.

Why are there not enough doctors?

There are several reasons why we do not currently have enough doctors, for example due to staff leaving the hospital, staff maternity leave, staff sickness absence and short notice locum unavailability. We are continuing to work to recruit more doctors.

What have you done to make sure that you have enough doctors?

We have been working with locum doctors, and doctors from other hospitals in the region. We have explored many options for recruitment too and will continue to work hard to recruit more doctors.