No date is set to reopen Cheltenham's Aveta birth centre or restart home births. Both wait on a new 24-hour countywide birth team, the NHS trust says.

There is still no date for women to give birth at the Cheltenham Birth Centre again. Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust says so in a maternity update written for county councillors this week.

The midwife-led unit, also known as the Aveta Birth Centre, is at Cheltenham General Hospital. It is closed for labour and birth but still open for antenatal appointments. The trust’s own page for the centre has carried that notice since October 2023.

The update went to Gloucestershire County Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee for its meeting at 10am on Tuesday 13 October. It says:

A date for reopening the home birth service and Cheltenham Birth Centre has not yet been confirmed.

The trust says it will reopen both only once it is “assured” that the staff, training, clinical governance, buildings and day-to-day arrangements are in place. (Maternity update, October 2026)

The plan: one birth team for the whole county

Reopening Cheltenham now depends on a new Community Birth Team. It would replace the old model of midwives based in particular buildings. According to the trust’s report, the team would:

  • work across Gloucestershire, 24 hours a day, seven days a week
  • support home births
  • support births at Stroud Maternity Hospital
  • support births at the Cheltenham Birth Centre
  • be designed to handle two births at the same time, with escalation and transfer to obstetric care beyond that

Staff would go to wherever a birth is taking place rather than being based at one site. At Stroud, the team would open and staff the unit when a woman in labour contacts the service. The report does not say whether Cheltenham would run the same way.

The first phase of formal staff consultation on the model has finished. The trust says the countywide team “remains” its preferred option after considering the feedback.

Why home births stopped too

The county’s home birth service was suspended in October 2025. The trust’s report says it had been disrupted at short notice, often, because shifts could not be filled. A home birth “was not always available to women and families when requested”. The trust concluded that a different approach was needed even without the suspension.

The new team is meant to fix both problems at once: restart home births and reopen Cheltenham, using one pool of midwives.

How the county’s maternity units were rated

The same report sets out the Care Quality Commission’s latest findings. The inspections took place in September 2025 and the reports were published in August 2026.

Unit Previous rating New rating
Gloucestershire Royal Hospital maternity Inadequate Requires Improvement
Stroud Maternity Hospital Requires Improvement Good, in all five areas

At Gloucestershire Royal, the CQC rated maternity Requires Improvement for safety and for leadership, and Good for the other three areas. The trust says more than 80% of the actions in its maternity triage improvement programme were done or under way when the report came out.

What it means for you

If you are pregnant and live in Cheltenham, the choices today are the Delivery Suite and Birth Unit at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, or Stroud Maternity Hospital, about 12 miles south-west of Cheltenham. Home birth is still suspended. Antenatal appointments carry on at the Cheltenham Birth Centre.

Nothing in the report suggests a reopening in time for babies due this autumn or winter. Your community midwife is the person to ask about your birth plan.

The committee next meets on 17 November 2026. We will report any reopening date the trust gives.

Sources