Edward has raised the temporary closure of St Mary's Birth Centre in Melton Mowbray by the local UHL NHS Trust, in the House of Commons with the Health & Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting.
Using his last Oral Parliamentary Question at the Despatch Box as Shadow Health & Social Care Secretary following his choosing to step down from that role earlier in the day, to raise local concerns in the constituency, he asked the Health Secretary: 'Maintaining the focus on local communities, the fantastic St Mary’s birth centre in Melton Mowbray, in my constituency, has recently been temporarily closed by the local NHS trust for six months due to staff shortages. Although I appreciate that the Secretary of State does not have powers over such temporary closures and that local NHS leaders have engaged constructively, many local people fear that “temporary” could risk becoming permanent. If that risk looks like becoming a reality by the end of the summer, will the Secretary of State or one of his Ministers pre-emptively agree to meet me at that point to discuss it?'
Mr Streeting responded positively replying: 'I absolutely give the right hon. Gentleman the assurance that I would be happy to meet him about his constituency issue, or indeed anything else...'
Edward said: "I set out to the Secretary of State my concerns, and those of many local people, that the temporary closure due to staff shortages, could risk morphing into something permanent. I called on the Health Secretary to meet me in the autumn if no progress had been made on restoring staffing levels so that the Centre could reopen, and am grateful to him for swiftly agreeing to do so. I will continue to engage with the local NHS in the coming weeks to press for a positive way forward for what is a much valued local service, but we do need to see from them a clear plan to deliver that reopening."
