by Alex Claridge

aclaridge@thekmgroup.co.uk

A crunch public meeting on the future of the birthing unit at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital will take place next week.

This newspaper has been campaigning to keep the unit open instead of births in east Kent being restricted to Margate and Ashford hospitals.

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust says fewer women are choosing to give birth at Canterbury and Dover, the other birthing centre likely to close.

The trust is taking its ideas around east Kent in the form of a roadshow and public meetings, where it will put forward three options for the future of birthing in east Kent.

The Canterbury roadshow will take place on Tuesday.

Mother-of-one Dawn Fenton gave birth to her daughter Eva at the Dover birthing centre and is opposed to the closure of either centre at Canterbury or Dover.

Dawn, 34, from Dover, said: "The way I was treated and looked after there was absolutely fantastic and it would be terrible to shut either one.

"They really looked after me and allowed me to stay a few extra days after the birth so I could get my bearings together.

"If this had been in the regular hospital, they would have been looking to get me out as quickly as possible.

"These specialist birthing units at Dover and Canterbury must be allowed to remain open so that they continue all their excellent work."

The trust says it would like to close the units at Dover and Canterbury and move the midwives there to Ashford and Margate.

This will make it easier, the trust says, to cope with the rising birth rate and will mean that newborn infants will be near one of east Kent’s two special care baby units if there are post-natal complications.

The roadshow and meeting in Canterbury will take place at the Northgate Community Centre, Military Road, from 10am to noon on Tuesday, November 8.

If you miss that there will be another one at the Westgate Hall, Canterbury, from 6pm to 8pm on Tuesday, December 13.

What do you think? Leave your comments below or write to Gazette House, 5-8 Boorman Way, Estuary View Business Park, Whitstable CT5 3SE, or email kentishgazette@thekmgroup.co.uk