Maternity unit at Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead to close due to declining birth rate

The maternity unit at the Royal Free Hospital in north London is to close due to falling birth rates.

The decision to close the unit at one of the capital’s biggest hospitals was confirmed at a meeting of the North Central London Integrated Care Board on Tuesday.

Officials cited figures showing that births fell by 14 per cent in the area in the past five years.

According to the Resolution Foundation, birth rates have been falling faster in London than in the rest of the country since the 2000s.

Under a restructuring four of the five maternity units serving Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington will remain open.

They include the Whittington Hospital that had been under threat.

But the unit at the Royal Free, in Camden, will close, despite a long-running campaign to save it.

The remaining units will serve the five boroughs as well as those in neighbouring boroughs who choose to use North Central London services.

The trust said that the hospital’s neonatal unit cared for fewer babies than other units in the area and does not accept babies born under 34 weeks’ gestation.

Admissions to the unit have reportedly been falling by four per cent a year since 2018-19. Last year about half its cots were empty on any given day, the Times reported.