HOSPITAL trusts in Essex were left with a bill of more than £600,000 after a midwife service collapsed with two days notice.

The collapse of One-to-One Midwives one year ago left 280 mums across north Essex in the lurch.

The firm was based in north west England but provided also services in the Colchester and Clacton areas.

Mums were transferred to the East Suffolk and North Essex Trust, which runs Colchester Hospital, when it collapsed.

An investigation by the Gazette’s sister publication, the Warrington Guardian, found the company racked up millions of pounds in debt after not paying NHS bills.

A series of Freedom of Information requests revealed the scale of these debts which stand at more than £3 million.

It found the East Suffolk and North Essex Hospital Trust is owed more than £500,000.

The Mid Essex Hospital Service Trust is owed an estimated £114,842.

Costs arose when a woman in their care experienced a complication or illness and was sent to A&Es.

Maternity units took over the woman’s care and sent invoices to One to One Midwives for the cost of treatment.

There were also costs of transferring and delivering ongoing services to women when the service collapsed.

One to One Midwives, set up in 2010, was for women who did not want a hospital-led pregnancy.

Gazette:

Services such as One to One could bid to win a contract from clinical commissioning groups.

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They received the same amount of money per expectant mother as a hospital would - all paid as soon as the mum booked in.

In Essex, the service had operated as a “non-contract activity arrangement”.

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

A spokesperson for the NHS Wirral CCG said: “An independent review into the circumstances that led to the organisation going into administration is ongoing and we will await the outcome of that work to ensure any further actions required are implemented appropriately.”

The East Suffolk and North Essex Trust declined to comment.

One to One Midwives founder Joanne Parkington was contacted for comment.

You can read the full Warrington Guardian report here.