The Whitworth Unit in Darley Dale and the Corbar Birth Centre in Buxton are both earmarked for closure next year.
Derbyshire Primary Care Trust has confirmed that both are due to shut their doors, after a seven-month campaign to save facilities.
Jacque Gerrard, RCM director for England, said: ‘We are deeply disappointed as we have met with the commissioners at the NHS Trust, advised them about choices for women and the cost effectiveness of birth centres, as supported by the recent
Birthplace study.
‘Midwives are devastated at the loss of their local birth centres as women’s choices for childbirth are reduced and they now have to access maternity services in a doctor-led obstetric unit, where medical interventions are more likely, rather than a midwife-led unit.’
Last week, members of the NHS Derby City and NHS Derbyshire County unanimously agreed that the centres should close from 1 July, 2012.
Diana Dakin, of the League of Friends for Matlock Hospitals, said rural areas were being stripped of their services and people would have to travel further afield.
But David Sharp, chief executive of NHS Derby and Derbyshire, said he believes the measures are needed to provide savings.
Despite the bad news, there is one last glimmer of hope for the centres.
Members of Derbyshire County Council’s Improvements and Scrutiny Committee are due to vote on whether to refer the decision for further investigation.
It would then be in the hands of the health secretary to decide whether the
Independent Reconfiguration Panel should look at the issue in more detail.
The panel has the ability to recommend a full review into the decision. However, it can only offer advice and the final decision will rest with the health secretary.
