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Silver Star’s Struggle to Survive, written by Nuala Webb, mother and passionate supporter of Silver Star.

The annual Silver Star Fete on 27th June this year turned out to be rather disturbing. The normal chit-chat, raffles and baby adoration sessions were undermined by the bombshell that Level 6 – the Silver Star Ward for high risk pregnancies and foetal medicine was to be closed on Monday 6th July for good. Although details were blurry and rumours abounding, what did seem clear was that staff were told verbally on 25th and 26th about the indefinite closure of Level 6, with under 2 weeks warning. The atmosphere was one of disbelief, anger, shock and outrage among the Silver Star families and in- patients, who had come down for the fete.

Closure meant a loss of 25% of total hospital maternity beds and a halving of available Silver Star beds, the very patients at most need of dedicated specialist care, many who have already had the devastating experience of losing one or more babies. Meanwhile the new low risk unit on level 7 for mums remained untouched! In previous summers there have been some ward closures to cope with lower staffing levels during the holidays. These have been reluctantly negotiated in advance with staff for a specified period. In the last 2 years Level 7 bore the brunt of the cut, rather than Level 6.

Initially it was hard to get any answers as the Press Office would only speak to journalists. To cut a very long story short, the Trust represented the situation as ‘a merger’ of high risk pregnancy beds from Level 6 with normal maternity beds on Level 5, due to a fall in birth rate in 2009 and lower delivery rates in the summer. They denied that the closure was driven by cost cutting (the Trust is reportedly running a huge £40m + debt currently and has severe financial difficulties). We also found that much of the statistical information implied by hospital statements was misleading.

The response from Silver Star Members, families and friends was amazing. There was no time to organise or coordinate anything– so people just got on with it: letters to MPs including Cameron and various Ministers; interviews on Heart Radio, Meridian, BBC Oxford; articles in The Oxford Mail and several lead stories and letters in The Oxford Times, etc. A fantastic job was done on Facebook with the SaveSilverStar campaign which got 1800 supporters. The Trust was overwhelmed by the strength and diversity of the response. The lack of coordination made it much harder to quash!

For the first couple of weeks they refused to give any definite reopening date for Level 6, despite this pressure, fuelling the very real fear that Level 6 would remain closed. Then it was to reopen sometime in the autumn. Finally, just before the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals AGM on 16th July in Banbury, (which might have been more colourful and illustrative of its theme ‘Getting engaged…. What is public engagement and why should we do it?’ than the ORHT had planned,) they published a letter on Facebook and the web stating that Level 6 would reopen by the beginning of October at the latest. The campaign was put on hold pending events.

3 bays were opened on Level 6 on 14th September and it was at full capacity by the end of September. The Trust seems pleased that the closure has saved money, and some refurbishment of the level was done. However, Level 6 was closed for nearly 2 ½ months. The 12 allocated beds downstairs were exceeded most of the time, taking beds away from ordinary maternity use. Considerable strain was put on staff and patients.

This battle over Level 6 has been useful though. Firstly, it has made the Trust aware that it has something akin to a ‘National Treasure’ in the Silver Star Unit, and raised its profile in Oxford. This is something we need to build on. Maybe we haven’t done enough previously to publicise the essential and unique work done by the Silver Star Unit. A testimonial to the vital work of the Unit was demonstrated in the response of all Silver Star supporters who heard about the campaign. A huge THANK YOU to all of you.

Secondly, we became aware that we do need to organise ourselves, so that information can be spread quickly and effectively in future. We were just very lucky that the news came out the day before the Fete. If you were not aware of what happened in the summer you might like to do two things:
a) contact Maggie Findlay at the Silver Star Society on silverstar.society@orh.nhs.uk and give her your email address so that we can compile a group email list.
b) Look at Facebook at the Savesilverstar page and join up.
Although the work of the Silver Star Unit on Level 6 is currently secure, who knows what the future may hold in the face of severe financial cut backs. We need to make sure that the work of the unit is maintained in the future. That means that we have to publicise what the Silver Star does, and why it is worth keeping. If you have any ideas or suggestions that can help, then Maggie would be very keen to hear from you.

   Women’s Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford