THE retired consultant who headed up the group charged with reviewing Helme Chase said it had unanimously agreed planned Caesarean sections could continue safely at the unit.

Former consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist George Turnbull, who chaired the steering group which looked at the unit's future, said members' first consideration had always been safety.

There could be a contradiction, he said, if planned Caesareans did not continue at Helme Chase but other surgery was carried out at Westmorland General Hospital.

"There's a certain illogicality if they are going to continue to do any surgery at all at Kendal - what's the difference between that and a Caesarean section," he said.

He said an audit showed a lower than average complication rate for Caesareans performed at Helme Chase.

Whether or not planned Caesareans should continue at the unit has become one of the key issues in the debate surrounding Helme Chase.

The steering group, which included consultants, GPs, anaesthetists, and community representatives, had also recommended additional midwives for Helme Chase and the Royal Lancaster Infirmary's maternity unit.

However, the midwives claim that under proposals now out to public consultation, there would be additional midwives for Lancaster, but one midwife fewer in Kendal.

Mr Turnbull said he believed there were understandable financial constraints behind decisions taken about Helme Chase.

He did not feel the group's report was being ignored, as has been claimed by the midwives, but would have liked the findings to be fully implemented.

"In the best of all possible worlds it would have been wonderful if they had accepted the thing wholeheartedly," he said.

The steering group, set up by Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust, proposed Helme Chase should become midwife led.

Morecambe Bay Health Authority, which funds Helme Chase, decided there should be a public consultation, and put forward three options of no change, closure, and a midwife-led unit.

However, members of the Royal College of Midwives say there are differences between the Turnbull report and the health authority's proposals, and they are backing the Turnbull findings.

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