ONE of the services taken out of Kidderminster Hospital with the closure of Wyre Forest Birth Centre is to be reinstated next month to prevent mums-to-be making unnecessary trips to Worcester.

The day assessment unit at Wyre Forest Birth Centre assesses women for possible complications, including high blood pressure, and is due to reopen next month.

A new post of consultant midwife at the facility has been offered to a midwife from outside the trust, according to chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, John Rostill, who announced the developments to the Shuttle/Times & News yesterday.

He explained the service, which was transferred to Worcester in September, 2003 - when births ceased at the midwife-led Wyre Forest Birth Centre following the unexpected deaths of six babies in less than three years - would run three days a week.

It is expected to see up to 10 women a week.

"We believe this service is appropriate for local residents so that they will not have to travel to Worcester because people might have to go for assessment fairly frequently," Mr Rostill said.

He added the decision would not impact on other services that had been cut, such as inpatient postnatal care, because a decision would not be made on the future of the centre as a whole until at least December, when a public consultation exercise by Wyre Forest Primary Care Trust is due to be completed.

Elizabeth Bytheway, who has been campaigning for the return of services to Wyre Forest Birth Centre since January, described the latest development as "absolutely brilliant". She added: "I'm really pleased that it's reopening and just hope the next thing to come back will be postnatal services."