It has been six months since Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (SFT) temporarily closed the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) and inpatient maternity services at Yeovil District Hospital (YDH).
As the commissioner of the services, we held a formal six-month review with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust to hear about their progress to safely reopen the services. This is a contractual process, and we are reviewing the information they shared with us around the impact of the closure and the work they are doing to safely reopen those services.
We welcomed the Trust’s update on the 14 October 2025 that, subject to meeting essential safety criteria, they are planning to reopen the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) and inpatient maternity service at Yeovil District Hospital (YDH) on 21 April 2026.
At our latest meeting on the 24 November 2025 the Trust outlined the progress they are making towards safely reopening the services including:
- Welcoming five new Somerset paediatric consultants who have been appointed and are joining the trust between November 2025 and March 2026 (the first of these is now in post).
- Midwifery and Neonatal nursing colleagues are now working together as one SFT team, sharing learning and experiences to improve services and service user experience.
- Continued staff engagement through line managers with all YDH staff, some of whom have been temporarily redeployed.
- Implementing recommendations in the Paediatric CQC Section 29a Warning Notice Action Plan.
The Trust told us that they are committed to providing safe, high quality and sustainable services for those who need them, they recognise the disruption caused by the closures and we apologise to anyone who is or has been affected.
We remain committed to working with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and key stakeholders to support the safe reopening of services in April 2026. We have agreed to hold another formal review to monitor progress to safely reopen services in three months.
You can find further details about the temporary closures and support available Somerset NHS Foundation trust website
