UnityPoint Health-Des Moines announced it will end maternity services on the Iowa Lutheran Hospital campus and consolidate those services with Iowa Methodist Medical Center and Methodist West Hospital. The consolidation of maternity services will enable UnityPoint to create future capacity for general medical and surgical patients on the Iowa Lutheran campus, the health system said in a press release. The Iowa Lutheran maternity department will close July 31. The move is a response to a steady decline in deliveries at Iowa Lutheran over the past several years, while demand for general medical and surgical beds has increased in the Des Moines area, said Tom Mulrooney, chief operating officer for Iowa Lutheran Hospital. “The consolidation creates efficiencies for maternity services and will position our Iowa Lutheran Hospital team with the ability to treat and admit more general medicine and surgery patients. In addition, we know we will need more beds later this year as we care for both flu and COVID-19 patients,” he said. All team members currently working at Iowa Lutheran Hospital in the maternity department will be relocated to the maternity departments at Iowa Methodist and Methodist West. UnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine-East Des Moines will continue to provide prenatal care at its offices on the Iowa Lutheran campus and admit its patients to Iowa Methodist Medical Center for deliveries. Likewise, Midwife Services of UnityPoint Health-Des Moines will transition its patients to both Iowa Methodist and Methodist West Hospital for deliveries.