You can’t have baby here, three hospitals told woman

A WOMAN in labour had be driven 40 miles in pain to give birth after three NHS hospitals ran out of midwives.

Barbara Job, 25, had to undertake an hour-long journey from Peterborough to Leicester on Sunday.

She was told that there were insufficient staff to deliver her baby safely at Peterborough City Hospital, Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon or the Rosie Hospital in Cambridge and was eventually accepted at Leicester Royal Infirmary, where she gave birth to a healthy baby boy on Tuesday.

However, the delay in being admitted to hospital left her in “incredible pain” during the journey, her mother-in-law, Rica Scott, told the BBC.

“When I had my children you got so much attention, whereas now you’re having to fight,” Mrs Scott added. “I hope other mothers don’t go through this.”

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care System, which represents Cambridgeshire’s NHS providers, said: “The safety of the parents and babies using our maternity units is an absolute priority.

“Whilst we appreciate the sensitivity of the moment, at times it may be necessary to ask mothers to use alternative maternity units if [a] unit has reached its current capacity.

“All patients are risk assessed before they are transferred.

“Anyone with urgent questions about their pregnancy, [should] contact [their] local maternity team, who can provide support.”

More than half of maternity units in England consistently fail to meet safety standards, a BBC analysis of Care Quality Commission (CQC) figures has previously found.

Mrs Job’s experience comes after the publication of the damning Ockenden Report – the biggest review of maternity services in NHS history. It detailed shocking failures in maternity care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

Women left screaming in pain for hours, being told they were “lazy” for wanting a caesarean, having their excruciating pain dismissed as “nothing”, and being made to feel “pathetic” were among the experiences recounted.

Also laid bare were stillbirths that could have been avoided and excessive force applied to forceps that led to babies’ deaths.