A REVIEW of maternity services at Northallerton's Friarage Hospital has found closure to be the cheapest and least risky of four options, but senior staff insist the unit is safe.

The study for the South Tees NHS Trust clinical futures board examined four options for the unit, fuelling speculation about the viability of the maternity service, but health chiefs stressed that, despite the findings, there were no plans to close the unit.

The four options were given a risk factor, measuring the effect of factors such as patient safety, staff, finances, and service objectives on maintaining a "stable, predictable" obstetric service for women.

The options were: retention of the existing consultant-led service, which carried a risk factor of 15.5; a consultant service with no middle-grade doctors, with a risk of 15; a midwifery-led service, with a risk of 12; and closure of the unit, with a risk of nine.

Jill Moulton, director of planning for South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "There are no proposals to shut the maternity unit at the Friarage Hospital.

"The trust, with Hambleton and Richmondshire Primary Care Trust, is in the process of an in-depth review of the Friarage to look at the best ways of providing safe high-quality local services in the hospital and wider community in the long-term."

Public information meetings to discuss the future of the hospital will be held at Hawes Primary School on Thursday, May 26, at 7pm, and at Hambleton Forum in Northallerton on Thursday, June 9, at 7pm.

* Full report, page 5