// BBC HEALTH NEWS — SALUTE
Midwives concerned over possible baby unit closures
The maternity unit at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital could become the only one in the county
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said it was concerned by reports that two maternity units could close.
Norfolk has maternity units at hospitals in Norwich, Gorleston and King's Lynn, with the latter two also serving Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.
The trade union posted on Facebook, external that local maternity services should be invested in rather than cut.
The Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group (NWUHG) has set out its "Case for Change", external on how services could be delivered in future, but stressed that no decisions had been made and no consultation had begun. NHS leaders said any move to concentrate services at one or two sites would be based on providing safer care for women and babies.
Documents show, external that some women that would currently give birth in Gorleston would face a two-hour public transport journey to get to alternative hospitals
However, the RCM warned that closing units serving rural and isolated communities could mean women travelling "unacceptable distances" while in labour.
If maternity services were removed from hospitals, the union said neonatal units and children's inpatient wards would also close because the services were inter-dependent.
Options include keeping services as they are, or closing consultant-led maternity units at the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn, or both.
As well as women in Norfolk, the plans could affect women in Lowestoft and north Suffolk who give birth in Gorleston and those in Wisbech and north-east Cambridgeshire who travel to King's Lynn.