First baby is delivered at new birthing 'hotel'

Jake Saez was delivered in a special pool just before midnight at the Barkantine Birth Centre on the Isle of Dogs.

The 10lb boy spent his first night in one of five rooms kitted out with double beds, birthing pools, chalet-style balconies and plasma screen TVs.

Jake and his parents, Claire Turley and her partner Frank Saez, from Canary Wharf, are in a new wave of families to use natural birthing centres run by midwives instead of doctors. Ms Turley, 32, a receptionist for KPMG, said: "We had music on the system and Jake arrived in the water at 11.45pm. It was incredible - I felt like I was giving birth in a luxurious hotel.

"I had my partner with me all the time and the same midwife as well as a view over London. It was fantastic."

The centre is on the third floor of a £12million health complex similar to the polyclinics proposed for London. It is staffed by 11 midwives from Barts and the London NHS Trust and provides pre- and postnatal care for pregnant women who are seen as low risk.

Health bosses are planning to overhaul maternity care in the capital under reforms drawn up by health minister Lord Darzi. He called for more units led by midwives to promote natural birth as well as polyclinics to house GPs, dentists and doctors offering X-rays.

But under the plans - now out to consultation - London will have fewer maternity wards run by obstetricians and campaigners fear the capital's overcrowded maternity units will be pushed to breaking point.

Units were forced to close 51 times last year because of overcrowding and a report last month found London's hospitals are among the worst for childbirth.

A follow-up report from the Healthcare Commission this week will reveal massive problems, with women left alone during labour and using stirrups - against national guidelines.

Health chiefs claim that a drive to increase home births from a rate of just 1.8 per cent and women using midwife centres will ease the pressure.