Maternity crisis as wards turn away pregnant women
THE number of times pregnant women were turned away from overrun maternity units has leapt by 70 per cent in two years, figures reveal.
Data acquired through freedom of information requests also showed that more than four out of 10 NHS services had to shut their doors due to lack of beds or staff at some point in 2016.
In one instance, the maternity unit at a major urban teaching hospital closed to newcomers for more than 30 hours, while another hospital’s maternity ward was shut 30 times in one year due to a shortage of midwives.
Labour, which obtained the data, said the patchy service was causing “unthinkable” uncertainty for mothers when they needed the NHS most.
The British Medical Association added that it was unsustainable to “plug gaps” in the service by shutting down wards.
The figures show that more than 10 trusts each temporarily shut on 10 or more occasions last year. These included Bradford Teaching Hospital and Medway NHS Foundation Trust.
Faulty infrastructure also caused closures, including at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals Trust, where the maternity unit shut on two occasions because the lift broke down.
At George Elliot NHS Foundation Trust in Warwickshire, services had to be suspended for three hours because there was no available ventilator.
In total, hospitals in England closed their maternity units to new admissions on at least 382 occasions in 2016, compared to 375 in 2015 and 225 occasions in 2014.
Dr Anthea Mowat, a spokeswoman for the BMA, said: “These figures are stark and will be concerning to many parents. Childbirth can already be a stressful time, and whether or not the services are open at a chosen hospital shouldn’t be something patients should have to worry about.
“Doctors always want to deliver the best possible care, but we can’t continuously plug gaps by just shutting down units because hospitals don’t have enough staff and resource.”
Midwifery leaders called for action to tackle “significant pressures” on maternity services throughout England, which face a shortage of around 3,500 full-time midwives.
Sean O’sullivan, head of health and social policy at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), said: “This latest research from the Labour Party comes as no surprise to the RCM and really further proves just how badly England’s maternity services are struggling due to understaffing.”
Of the 138 NHS trusts with a maternity unit, 96 responded to the Labour Party’s Freedom of Information request, meaning that the true number of unit closures over the last year is likely to be higher.
Jon Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said: “It’s shameful that pregnant women are being turned away due to staff shortages and shortages of beds and cots in maternity units.”