Campaigners walk 37,000 feet to bring back maternity services back to HRI

May 19 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Campaigners walk 37,000 feet to bring back maternity services

MUMS, dads and children marched 37,000 feet to raise awareness of their bid to bring full maternity services back to Huddersfield.

Around 60 supporters of the campaign MOMS (Move our Maternity Services) walked 37,000 feet around Greenhead Park on Sunday.

The distance is roughly equivalent to the seven miles from Huddersfield Royal Infirmary to Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax.

Despite major protests, consultant-led maternity services were moved from HRI to Calderdale in August.

The campaign was organised by Alanna Delahaye and Glynn Bates, of Golcar, whose daughter Maisie Bates, died at just two days old in September after last-minute complications with the pregnancy.

Alanna, 22, had been due to give birth at the Huddersfield Birth Centre, but had to be taken to Calderdale when late tests revealed Maisie’s heart rate was dangerously low.

Maisie suffered brain damage in the minutes it took to resuscitate her. Alanna and Glynn decided to turn off her life support on September 10.