The Loss of Local Choice: Crowborough Birthing Centre Paused — What This Means for Families in East Sussex
On 2 October, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust announced the difficult — and deeply consequential — decision to pause births at Crowborough Birthing Centre due to ongoing staffing shortages. The pause runs from 2 October until May 2026, with community antenatal and postnatal services continuing at the site but no inpatient births available for the foreseeable future. This is a significant change for families in and around Crowborough, Heathfield, Rotherfield and the surrounding Wealden areas who have relied on a nearby midwife-led unit for low-risk births.
For many local families, Crowborough wasn’t a convenience — it was a real choice: a midwife-led, low-intervention environment that sits between an in-home birth and an obstetric unit. Closing or pausing that option, even temporarily, forces people toward a more centralised model of birth — typically into large obstetric hospitals that are already under pressure. That shift matters, both practically and emotionally.
Why a Birth Centre Matters
Midwife-led birthing centres (MLUs) and birth centres exist because not all births need the high-tech environment of an obstetric theatre. For low-risk pregnancies, midwife-led care supports physiological birth, continuity of caregivers, and fewer routine interventions. These settings are intentionally designed to be calm, low-tech and woman-centred — a middle ground that preserves safety while reducing unnecessary interventions that many families want to avoid. The Crowborough unit has provided that option to hundreds of local families over decades.
When a local birth centre pauses or closes, the immediate effect is loss of choice: families must travel further, consider hospital births they may not want, or decide whether to attempt a homebirth without the proximate ease of a nearby midwife-led facility. The implications are practical (distance, travel time, cost) and emotional (feeling forced into a pathway that doesn’t match personal values).
What the Evidence Says About Place of Birth for Low-Risk Women
There is robust literature comparing planned homebirth, planned birth-centre births, and planned hospital births for low-risk pregnancies. High-quality systematic reviews and cohort studies consistently support the idea that for well-selected, low-risk women, midwife-led birth settings (including home and midwife-led units) have similar perinatal mortality outcomes to hospital birth, and lower rates of many interventions (caesarean, instrumental delivery, epidural, episiotomy). Major summaries include the Cochrane review on planned hospital versus planned home birth and observational work such as the Birthplace in England research.
Examples (summarised):
Large observational analyses (for low-risk women) show no clear increase in neonatal mortality when births are planned at home or in midwife-led units versus hospital, while intervention rates are typically lower in planned home or midwife-led settings.
Systematic reviews note evidence limitations (most data are observational rather than RCTs) but still find that planned midwife-led birth for low-risk women is a safe option within well-integrated systems where transfer to hospital is accessible when needed.
Put plainly: for low-risk pregnancies, the balance of evidence supports keeping midwife-led options open rather than funneling everyone into centralised obstetric units.
Local Reality: Where Will Crowborough Families Go Now?
With Crowborough Birthing Centre paused, families must look further afield. The nearest birth centre options are:
Maidstone Birth Centre (Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust) — one of two birth centres under MTW, Maidstone will now be the only birth centre open until at least May. Driving distance from Crowborough to Maidstone is roughly 24–26 miles (around 40–50 minutes driving in normal traffic; longer by public transport), depending on route. Rome2rio and driving route planners quote road distances of roughly 25 miles / 40 km and journey times that can exceed one hour by public transport.
Eastbourne Midwifery Unit (EMU), East Sussex — the region’s midwife-led unit that provides a midwife-led, low-intervention option for eligible women. The road distance from Crowborough to Eastbourne is approximately 19–31 miles depending on measurement method and route; journey times by car often approach 1 hour to 1 hour 45 minutes, and public transport can take considerably longer with changes. Historically the Eastbourne MLU has also experienced temporary suspensions of births due to staffing pressures — it was paused on multiple occasions in the recent past and was closed for births on a non-trivial number of days in 2023/24 while remaining open for antenatal and postnatal outpatient services. That inconsistency reduces the reliability of Eastbourne as a guaranteed back-up option.
For many local families without a car, or with limited finances and support, these distances and transport times make the choice to travel to Maidstone or Eastbourne a significant burden — and a real constraint on the freedom to choose the birth setting that best fits their values.
The Human Cost: Reduced Choice, Increased Pressure
Centralising births into fewer large hospitals is a trend across the NHS driven by staffing shortfalls, resource pressures, and efforts to maintain safety on paper. But the practical result is fewer places offering low-intervention care close to home. That reduces genuine choice, and for many people that loss is devastating:
Emotional impact: Families who had planned for a local midwife-led birth may feel as though their preferences are being ignored. The stress of longer journeys in labour, less familiarity with the birth environment, and increased exposure to interventions can heighten anxiety.
Equity impact: Those with fewer resources are disproportionately affected — they are less able to travel, less able to arrange time off, and more likely to feel compelled to accept the default hospital pathway.
Clinical ripple effects: When many low-risk births are funnelled into obstetric units, it can increase intervention rates overall and stretch hospital staff, paradoxically making it harder to provide personalised care.
These are not hypothetical concerns; they’re real consequences that change how families experience pregnancy and birth.
Independent Midwifery: Continuity in a Time of Fewer Choices
While Crowborough’s pause removes a publicly funded, nearby midwife-led option, independent midwifery remains a real and reliable choice for families who want true continuity of care. As an independent midwife, I work directly with clients, offering 1:1 antenatal, birth and postnatal support in their own home.
Importantly, unlike NHS homebirth provision — which can be withdrawn at short notice due to staffing pressures — booking an independent midwife guarantees access to a homebirth, giving families reassurance and continuity.
Independent midwifery is a private service and therefore not financially accessible to everyone, and it can’t “open” closed NHS birth centres. But for families who can choose it, independent midwifery offers a way to protect homebirth plans and preserve relational continuity despite the system’s contraction of local options. For others, hiring an independent midwife just for antenatal and postnatal packages can still provide continuity, personalised guidance, and someone in your corner to help you navigate hospital pathways when needed.
What Families Can Do Now
If you’re pregnant and Crowborough was your preferred option, here are practical steps:
Ask your local maternity service for clear, written information about the pause, how transfers and referrals will work, and what alternatives are available.
Consider continuity-based options: ask about named midwife schemes, community midwifery continuity teams, or independent midwifery if you can access it.
If you’re considering homebirth or a midwife-led unit elsewhere, check transfer times and practical logistics now (travel, childcare, costs). The distance to Maidstone or Eastbourne can be significant by car or public transport.
If you feel anxious about reduced choice, know that evidence supports physiological birth in midwife-led settings for low-risk pregnancies — and that continuity of care is protective. Read the Birthplace and Cochrane summaries to inform your discussions.
A Local Call to Action
Temporary or permanent, the pause of Crowborough Birthing Centre is a loss of nearby, midwife-led choice for many in our area. If you’re concerned, your voice matters. Contact local representatives including your local Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) lead, raise the issue with the trust’s maternity service (MTW) and share your experience — patient feedback and community concern can influence future commissioning decisions.
If you want more immediate, practical support to plan for a birth given these changes — whether that’s exploring homebirth safely, arranging continuity-style antenatal and postnatal packages, or getting help to navigate transfers and logistics — I’m here to help. I work with families across East Sussex, Kent, parts of London and sometimes further afield, offering continuity-centred care.
Sources & Further Reading (key references)
Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust — Crowborough Birthing Centre pause statement. (Crowborough Birthing Centre paused from 2 October until May 2026). Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
Eastbourne Midwifery Unit (EMU) — ESHT service page and updates (midwife-led unit info; past temporary pauses due to staffing). East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
Birthplace in England Research Programme — Maternal and newborn outcomes by birth setting; evidence supporting midwife-led settings for low-risk women. PMC
Cochrane review: Planned hospital birth versus planned home birth for low-risk women. Cochrane
Systematic reviews and observational analyses on planned homebirth outcomes (e.g., PMC articles summarising outcomes for low-risk planned homebirths). PMC
Final Thought
We all want safe births. Safety is achieved through an intelligent combination of clinical readiness and relationship-centred care. Midwife-led birth centres like Crowborough have offered both — a nearby place where low-risk families could choose calm, continuity and connection. Pausing that choice is more than an operational tweak: it is a lived loss for local women and families and for the midwives and maternity support workers who give so much of their love to Crowborough. For now, let’s plan carefully, support one another, and keep asking for choices that place families — not just systems — at the centre of care.
