MORE than 100 mothers and mothers-to-be met to voice their anger over the closure of a much-loved maternity unit.

The Mums' Army, protesting against the closure of the Guisborough unit, heard from former workers about the growing staff crisis which led to its closure last Friday.

Wednesday's meeting at Laurence Jackson School was organised by a special committee of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council set up to scrutinise the closure.

No one from South Tees NHS Trust attended. Managers had previously said the closure was temporary, although no date for reopening has been fixed.

At the meeting, Pam Reveley, who worked at the unit for 13 years, said she left along with others after being told she also had to work at the larger James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough. She said midwives were unable to give the same quality of care at the larger hospital.

She said: "Staff shortage is an excuse to close Guisborough Maternity Unit. I actually volunteered to go back to work but, like a lot of former midwives in the audience tonight, I was told I had to work some of the time in Middlesbrough. That's not the kind of supportive midwifery we want to do."

A number of points were raised at the meeting which the committee was asked to investigate, including the issue of public transport to the Middlesbrough hospital and the absence of a fixed date for the hospital to reopen.

The committee said it would compile a full report on the closure within three months.