Midwives and staff from Crowborough Birthing Centre were joined by the Friends of Crowborough Hospital, local MP Nusrat Ghani and new parents and their babies at a celebration this week.

The event marked 25 years of midwifery-led care in Crowborough, the out-of-hospital birthing services which were paused during the pandemic and began again in the spring, and the official opening of the new parent and staff kitchen and rest room generously funded by the Friends.

Before inviting MP for Wealden Nusrat Ghani to cut a ribbon to officially open the new facilities, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust Chief Executive Miles Scott welcomed everyone and thanked the Friends of Crowborough Hospital who have contributed to many projects at the Birthing Centre over the years.  He said: “As well as publicly thanking the Friends for their generous donation, this is also an opportunity to mark the return of births to Crowborough. This service is really important to us and, since it reopened in April, it has gone from strength to strength.  We are on course to be busier in the Birthing Centre this year than before Covid hit.”

Nusrat Ghani, MP for Wealden said: “I am proud that we have this fantastic facility in Wealden, enabling safe out-of-hospital birth care for parents-to-be across East Sussex and Kent. Many thanks to the Matron, Nicolette McCarthy and all the midwives and staff for their superb work providing first class care.”

Richard Hallett MBE, Vice President and Trustee of Crowborough Hospital League of Friends said: “Our task as the Friends is to represent the community and it’s the community that give donations to help our funding. We look for practical ways in which we can support the Birthing Centre and staff and Crowborough Hospital and we were delighted to be able to help with the communal kitchen and staff rest room.”

Pictured in group photo (left to right): Richard Hallett MBE, Vice President and Trustee, Friends of Crowborough Hospital; Nusrat Ghani, MP for Wealden; Nicolette McCarthy, Crowborough Birthing Centre Matron; Jo Webber, Associate Non-Executive Director, MTW; Miles Scott, MTW Chief Executive.