History. One of eight national maternity plans in the UK since 2004 backed fewer hospital units, for intensive care of newborns. Seven did not.
Hunch. Valerie Amos, whose review the plan builds on, heard of too little political backing for hard decisions to merge or move services.
The units market resolves on the national maternity and neonatal action plan on GOV.UK: YES if it says some maternity or newborn units in England should close, merge, change role or have complex care moved to fewer units, and NO if it speaks only of networks, conditions for change or keeping units. If no plan is published by the end of 31 December 2026 the market is void, and BBC News and The Guardian are the backups.
We looked for cases where a UK government or national health service body published a national plan for maternity care that showed its view on the number or role of hospital units. We found eight such plans from 2004 to 2023, from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each time we checked whether the plan said some units should close, merge or change role.