The babies born in hospital corridors: Bed shortage forces 4,000 mothers to give birth in lifts, offices and hospital toilet

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1209034/The-babies-born-hospital-corridors-Bed-shortage-forces-4-000-mothers-birth-lifts-offices-hospital-toilets.html

Thousands of women are having to give birth outside maternity wards
because of a lack of midwives and hospital beds.

The lives of mothers and babies are being put at risk as births in
locations ranging from lifts to toilets - even a caravan - went up 15
per cent last year to almost 4,000.

Health chiefs admit a lack of maternity beds is partly to blame for
the crisis, with hundreds of women in labour being turned away from
hospitals because they are full.

Latest figures show that over the past two years there were at least:

* 63 births in ambulances and 608 in transit to hospitals;
* 117 births in A&E departments, four in minor injury units and
two in medical assessment areas;
* 115 births on other hospital wards and 36 in other unspecified
areas including corridors;
* 399 in parts of maternity units other than labour beds,
including postnatal and antenatal wards and reception areas.

Additionally, overstretched maternity units shut their doors to any
more women in labour on 553 occasions last year.

Babies were born in offices, lifts, toilets and a caravan, according
to the Freedom of Information data for 2007 and 2008 from 117 out of
147 trusts which provide maternity services.

One woman gave birth in a lift while being transferred to a labour
ward from A&E while another gave birth in a corridor, said East
Cheshire NHS Trust.

Others said women had to give birth on the wards - rather than in
their own maternity room - because the delivery suites were full.

Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley, who obtained the figures, said
Labour had cut maternity beds by 2,340, or 22 per cent, since 1997. At
the same time birth rates have been rising sharply - up 20 per cent in
some areas.

Mr Lansley said: 'New mothers should not be being put through the
trauma of having to give birth in such inappropriate places.

More...

* Woman gives birth on pavement 'after being refused ambulance and
told to walk'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1207151/Woman-gives-birth-pavement-refused-ambulance.html
* Father turned away from hospital with pregnant wife delivers
baby on bathroom floor - and saves his daughter's life
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1207371/Father-turned-away-hospital-pregnant-wife-delivers-baby-bathroom-floor--saves-daughters-life.html

'While some will be unavoidable emergencies, it is extremely
distressing for them and their families to be denied a labour bed
because their maternity unit is full.

'It shows the incredible waste that has taken place that mothers are
getting this sort of sub-standard treatment despite Gordon Brown's
tripling of spending on the NHS.

'Labour have let down mothers by cutting the number of maternity beds
and by shutting down maternity units.'

The NHS employs the equivalent of around 25,000 full-time midwives in
England, but the Government has promised to recruit 3,400 more.

However, the Royal College of Midwives estimates at least 5,000 more
are needed to provide the quality of service pledged in the
Government's blueprint for maternity services, Maternity Matters.

At the same time almost half of all midwives are set to retire in the
next decade.

Jon Skewes, a director at the Royal College of Midwives, said: 'The
rise in the number of births in other than a designated labour bed is
a concern. We would want to see the detail behind these figures to
look at why this is happening.

'There is no doubt that maternity services are stretched, and that
midwives are working harder and harder to provide good quality care.
However, we know the Government is putting more money into the
service.

'The key now is to make sure this money is spent by the people
controlling the purse strings at a local level.'

Care services minister Phil Hope said: 'The number of maternity beds
in the NHS reflects the number of women wanting to give birth in
hospital. Giving birth can be unpredictableand it is difficult to plan
for the exact time and place of every birth.

'Local health services have plans to ensure high quality, personal
care with greater choice over place of birth and care provided by a
named midwife.

'We recognise that some parts of the country face particular
challenges due to the rising birth rate and that is why last year we
pledged to increase funding for maternity by £330million over three
years.

'We now have more maternity staff than ever before and we have already
met our target to recruit 1,000 extra midwives by September.'
Case study: I gave birth in a car

Pregnant Linda Corbett, 33, was turned away from one hospital and gave
birth in a car as she dashed to another.

Her husband Chris, 39, delivered their daughter Iona in the back seat
while her father raced to the hospital at 70mph.

'I was really scared but I had to hold it together as I was the only
one who knew the way to the hospital,' she said.
Linda and Chris Corbett with daughter Iona who was born in the back of a car

Fighting start: Linda and Chris Corbett with daughter Iona who was
born in the back of a car

'The baby was born just as we entered the car park.' Mrs Corbett,
pictured, was due to give birth at her Brighton home in June last year
but when she phoned the Royal Sussex County Hospital after her
contractions started she was told the maternity unit was too busy to
send a midwife to her.

When she phoned back later, she was told the unit was full and she
would have to go to another hospital. Fifteen minutes later she gave
birth.

She said: 'We had such a happy ending but it could have been a disaster.'