A CAMPAIGN has been launched to attract midwives to work in a state-of-the-art maternity unit in South Cumbria.

The £12m South Lakes Birthing Centre based at Furness General Hospital in Barrow will officially open its doors next week and will signify a new beginning for maternity services across the area.

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To ensure the facility offers top class care, the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust (UHMBT) which runs the unit has announced a new recruitment drive in the hopes of attracting both experienced and newly-qualified midwives to the facility.


Katy Stretch, who is heading up the recruitment drive said there were "exciting opportunities" to join the committed team.

She said: “We have really transformed the service from being in special measures to where we are now. We have people from within the NHS coming to us to find out how we do things.

Were you one of the first babies born in Furness General hospital?

“We have engaged both the local community and our staff in what services they want to see. Without them we wouldn’t have the amazing facilities we do today."

The trust is searching for band five and band six midwives, who are keen to progress their careers delivering more than 1,000 babies each year at the Furness hospital.

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Ms Stretch added:"They’d be joining an amazing team committed to ongoing learning and development. They deliver high quality care and embrace positive change to meet the demands of the community we serve.

“We really can offer the best of all worlds in both locations. Right on the doorstep we have some of the UK’s most beautiful countryside, the coast and also the facilities you’d associate with bustling urban areas.”

During January, midwives and medics undertook numerous training and orientation sessions to familiarise themselves with their new place of work and were even introduced to Simone, a life-like doll worth £70,000 which is capable of simulating labour to enable staff to experience emergency and complicated births.

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Last week history was made at the 2,553 sq m unit as midwives delivered the very first baby, McKenzie Kirkland, on February 7.