£114k upgrade to maternity services in Burnley (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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£114k upgrade to maternity services in Burnley
6:00am Tuesday 29th January 2013 in News
MUMS and dads across East Lancashire will benefit from £114,000 of new investment in maternity facilities at Burnley General Hospital.
New birthing pools, upgraded birthing rooms, an enhanced bereavement suite and better parental accommodation at the special intensive care baby unit will be paid for by the cash.
The £114,977 to upgrade and modernise East Lancashire’s main maternity hub has delighted health bosses and patients’ representative Russ McLean.
It will pay for : n a £24,000 enhancement of the bereavement suite at Burnley General’s Lancashire Women and Newborn Centre; n a £53,000 refurbishment of two birthing rooms at the midwife-led Burnley Birth Centre and the installation of two additional birthing pools; and n a £37,000 upgrading of parental accommodation at Burnley General’s neonatal intensive care unit.
Vanessa Holling, family care chief at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We are thrilled to receive the £114,977 funding to further enhance and develop our services and facilities.
“We are immensely proud of the maternity services we offer and this will enable us to become better resourced and equipped to meet the needs of families who choose our services.”
Mr McLean, chair of Pennine Lancashire Patients’ Voices Group, said: “This is great news. In these times of austerity any new money for local services from the NHS is particularly welcome.
“It comes on top of significant investment in the Blackburn Birth Centre in the last five years. It is great news for mothers, babies and families in East Lancashire.”
Gill Harris, chief nurse for NHS North of England, said: “I am absolutely delighted at decisions based on what really matters to women and their families.
“These projects will be completed in the next few months and continue to help us deliver our pledge of improved experiences and additional choices for women and their families.”
n Part of a £754,000 investment at Preston-based Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust will be used to improve the midwife-led Unit at Chorley District Hospital.
