When the University Hospital of Hartlepool birthing suite is expected to finally reopen
Health chiefs have revealed birthing availability at the University Hospital of Hartlepool is to return later this years following a "pause".
The midwife-led maternity unit at the hospital, named the Rowan Suite, became fully operational in late 2020, taking bookings for women considered to be “low risk” – with 113 births having occurred to date.
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust bosses announced in May 2025 a pause in “intrapartum care” – which is the period from the start of labour until the delivery of the baby – due to “staffing absences”.
Antenatal and postnatal care has continued as normal during this period along with home births.
The latest meeting of Hartlepool’s health and wellbeing board heard staffing pressures have eased and the “birth availability option” is due to return in June.
Stephanie Worn, director of midwifery at University Hospitals Tees, said: “We do foresee that we’ll have a planned reopening of the Rowan Suite at the University Hospital of Hartlepool and that will be a phased adoption into June.”
She added this approach will ensure the “sustainability and stabilisation” of the service.
Councillor Brenda Harrison told the meeting it was “very disappointing and upsetting” when the Rowan Suite temporarily closed and it is “great to see” it is going to be “back up and running again”.
Yet she stressed that she, and other councillors, want to see a full consultant-led maternity service provided at the hospital to allow more children to be born in Hartlepool.
Cllr Harrison said: “We do as a town and as a borough deserve a more robust maternity service.”