THE MATERNITY ward at Wrexham Maelor Hospital has been forced closed for over 100 hours in the last four years.

Figures revealed show that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) had to close the maternity wards in its three hospitals for 240 hours since 2015.

The Maelor has seen their maternity ward closed for the longest period, a total of 119 hours and 15 minutes across seven closures.

This adds to the closures of the maternity wards in Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor and Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan, which have collectively closed 26 times between January 2015 and August 2018.

According to the BCUHB’s Maternity Unit Escalation Procedure, possible reasons for closing the maternity ward include lack of essential resources, a lack of available beds or staff, and infection in the clinical areas.

A spokesperson for BCUHB said: “All hospitals are required to have escalation procedures in place to manage pressures on their services. If one hospital in our North Wales maternity network is very busy, our escalation plans include asking women to divert to another hospital. This is only ever where it is appropriate and clinically safe and helps to ensure that we provide a safe, high quality service. These diversions are now rare.

“We have worked extremely hard to make improvements – including the recent appointment of an extra 20 midwives – and maternity services were formally de-escalated from special measures in January 2018.”