A decision on the future of the maternity unit at Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal is due soon.

An options appraisal, conducted by the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, will be taken to the board to support reopening Helme Chase to allow pregnant women to give birth there.

Birth services were temporarily suspended back in March due to staffing issues. This is the third closure in five years for the maternity unit.

Other appointments such as scans have remained.

The trust pointed to a shortage of midwives to staff the on-call model at the midwifery-led unit. "Recruitment has been ongoing, however, community posts have been difficult to recruit to," a spokesperson said at the time.

"Staffing has been an issue at Helme Chase for a number of years but we are now at a point where it is now not possible for us to offer the consistent and safe birth service that patients deserve." 

The spokesperson said there are approximately two births a month at Helme Chase. 

Antenatal and postnatal care and all outpatient activity at the unit is operating as normal, as well as services at Furness General and the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, the spokesperson confirmed. 

"Following a workforce review, an options appraisal will be taken to the board to support reopening of the service," they said this week.

South Lakes MP Tim Farron has set up a petition calling on the Government to give the trust 'the money and resources to properly staff Helme Chase so we can save our local maternity ward from permanent closure.' 

Mr Farron also wants to give the unit 'a new lease of life after years of underinvestment.' 

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Mr Farron told Parliament:  “This is the third such temporary closure in five years of our maternity unit, and over the past 20 years we have seen a 90 per cent reduction in the number of births at Helme Chase, due to the steady erosion of that vital and much loved unit." 

A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The NHS has faced chronic workforce shortages for years, and it is unacceptable that too many women are not receiving the maternity care that they deserve.

“This Government is determined to change that and ensure that all women receive safe, personalised, and compassionate care from maternity services.

“We will train thousands more midwives and make sure the NHS has the staff it needs to be there for all of us when we need it.”

Shortly after the unit closed a mum who would have used Helme Chase had to give birth on the A590 when she ran out of time in her dash to get to the maternity ward at Furness General.