NHS managers confirmed this week that they are planning to shut another service in an effort to cut costs — and this time it’s a birth centre.
St George’s University Hospitals NHS Trust told the council this week that the Carmen Birth Centre at St George’s Hospital is under review, with closure one of the options.
The Trust is already shutting the four temporary operating theatres at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Roehampton and is pushing ahead with changes that campaigners say will hollow out Queen Mary’s urgent care.
Together, the moves suggest a clear pattern: local services pared back to fit the Trust’s £95 million savings programme.
The Carmen Birth Centre is a two-room, midwife-led unit separate from the main delivery suite. For many women it has offered a calmer, more personalised experience. But Trust managers said it is “significantly underused” – the same argument it is using in order to justify closing the Queen Mary’s minor injuries unit – with most high-risk births taking place on the main unit and other birth centres in South West London better placed to support low-risk deliveries.
The review is considering shutting the centre entirely and moving what little midwife-led activity remains into a dedicated room within the delivery suite. Officials said this would maintain the “same standard of service” while cutting overheads.
Pattern of closures
The proposed birth centre closure follows major reductions at Queen Mary’s:
- The four “modular” operating theatres — installed during COVID to tackle backlogs — closed at the start of September, eliminating around 70 weekly procedures.
- The Enhanced Primary Care Hub (minor injuries and urgent GP access) is being reshaped with some of the services and staff relocated to Tooting despite being highly valued locally.
The Trust insists no final decision has been made on maternity, but has been blunt that “enormous financial pressure” leaves it unable to sustain every service. Consultation with staff, patients, MPs and local authorities is promised before any changes are finalised.
Growing local alarm
Campaigners say the trend is unmistakable: Roehampton and Putney residents are being left with fewer local health options and forced to travel to Tooting for more and more care. While the Trust frames each change as “efficient use of taxpayers’ money”, the community sees services lost one by one.
With the Carmen Birth Centre now added to the list, fears are mounting that cost-cutting, not patient choice, is driving the future of healthcare in Wandsworth.
