MATERNITY units in Harwich and Clacton will be reopened as “on-demand” birthing centres by next month.
The wards at the coastal hospitals were closed for births in a shock move earlier this year due to staff shortages in Colchester.
But at a meeting today Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust board decided the birthing units would be re-opened as birthing centres.
This means mothers will be able to phone midwives when they go into labour and the midwife will then meet them at the unit.
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