Babies being born off wards

A rising number of women in the Black Country and Staffordshire are giving birth away from maternity wards, new figures revealed today.

Figures obtained by the Conservatives from NHS trusts reveal almost 4,000 women in England gave birth in a hospital location other than a designated labour bed in 2008, including A&E departments, car parks and corridors.

The numbers are up nationally 15 per cent from almost 3,500 in 2007.

At Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, six women gave birth outwith a labour ward in 2007, rising to 22 the following year – an increase of 267 per cent. At Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital, the figure was 40 in 2008, compared to 35 the year before – up 14 per cent.

In Mid Staffordshire, which includes Stafford Hospital, the number giving birth outside ante-natal wards was 27 in 2008, a rise of 22 from the year before. No figures were available for Sandwell and Walsall.

Units in England had to shut their doors to women in labour 553 times last year because they were full.

There were also three births in hospital corridors and 10 in car parks. Labour has cut the number of maternity beds by more than a fifth since 1997.