MIDWIVES in Malton will discuss the plight of the hospital's troubled maternity unit with the town's prospective MP.

Anne McIntosh, MP for the Vale of York, and Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the new Constituency of Thirsk & Malton, will be visiting the facility next week.

Thursday's visit comes as uncertainty still surrounds the fate of the maternity unit.

Miss McIntosh said: "The future of the maternity unit at Malton Hospital is still under threat, despite much local support.

"During my visit, I shall be discussing with midwives the current funding crisis, and the impact of closing the maternity unit for expectant mothers in the area.

"I believe that women should have choice and access to local maternity services, and so I am extremely supportive of the need to maintain maternity services in Malton.

"Government plans include having all future births at Scarborough Hospital, but I fail to see how this improves choice locally. Mothers may have to travel over a long distance while pregnant, which is alarming. I fear that these proposals are designed to be a cost saving measure, as the PCT is in £7.2 million debt.

"Also, the number of full-time midwives has increased by only five per cent since 1997, despite the NHS budget roughly doubling. Too little money has reached frontline services, and in the meantime, women are being out at risk. This situation is unacceptable."

Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust propose cutting deliveries at Malton Hospital and encouraging mothers to have home births. The trust issued a public consultation document on the future of maternity services, which closed on Friday, March 18.

But staff and mums-to-be in Malton and across Ryedale have been told they must wait until June for a final decision. Before making that decision, the trust said it would examine a newly-published Government report on maternity services - which outlines proposals for women in England to be given a choice of where they give birth.

Speaking on January 10, Andrew Lansley MP, shadow secretary of state for health, on the threat to maternity services, said: "Too often this is being dressed up as an issue of patient safety, but there is no clear evidence to prove this. If services are being shut down for financial reasons, then ministers should be honest enough to say so."