Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure adequate access to maternity care for people in West Dorset constituency, in the context of the closure of Yeovil’s maternity unit.

The Government will ensure that trusts failing on maternity care are robustly supported into rapid improvement, and we will continue to work with the National Health Service as it delivers its three-year maternity and neonatal delivery plan to ensure women receive safe, personalised, and compassionate care.

Responsibility for the delivery, implementation, and funding decisions for services ultimately rests with the appropriate NHS commissioner. The Department is aware of temporary changes to services at Yeovil District Hospital, which have been made in response to a number of factors, including a recent Care Quality Commission inspection and temporarily not being able to meet the staffing levels required to provide safe services for babies and families. The South West NHS England regional team, integrated care board, and trust are working collectively to review the situation and develop proposals to ensure the safe future service provision of maternity services.