HEALTHCARE bosses say there was “little mitigation” they could have taken to prevent the collapse of a midwifery service.

More than 200 mums were left in the lurch after One to One Midwives ceased trading with two days notice.

The firm was based in north-west England, but provided services for the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group.

Now the CCG has been asked to provide answers to the health panel at Essex County Council.

A report, set to go before councillors next week, revealed the service had operated as a “non-contract activity arrangement”.

That meant One to One Midwives did not hold a written contract with the CCG in Essex but did have one with Wirral CCG.

The report said: “The arrangement with North East Essex was commissioned without the guarantee of any activity or income, in a similar way to the any qualified provider contracts.”

The CCG also said prior to the collapse it had intended to use its own maternity strategy for the long term future.

The report added: “The commissioners in North West England had also developed strategies with their local acute trusts to transform their maternity services and as such had made the decision to serve notice on the One to One Midwives contract at the end of its contract term and re-tender the service.

“It is believed that this decision may have been the major factor affecting the sustainability of the service as this contract was the provider’s only guaranteed source of income.

“The CCG does not believe the service was sustainable in Essex without the guarantee of the activity in the North West and, therefore, there was little mitigation the CCG could undertake to prevent the liquidation of the company.”

NHS commissioners in the North West are undertaking work to anaylse what happened when the service collapsed.

Back in July Colchester Hospital stepped in to help care for mums in Colchester and Tendring who had been left in the lurch.

Three members of staff from One to One have been employed so far at the hospital.

It is understood most of the midwives still looking for work had not taken up the hospital’s offer as they did not want to work in a hospital setting with a shift pattern.

After the firm collapsed it described the decision as “regrettable”.