Lack of beds is forcing women to give birth in corridors

At least a dozen women out of every thousand who give birth in the capital are not delivering on a proper ward, according to figures published today.

Instead, they go through the agonising experience of labour in hospital lifts, car parks, bathrooms and even midwife offices.

Some births are accidental but many are the result of NHS cuts, which mean maternity units are overstretched. Critics warn this exposes deep problems within maternity care.

The Government pledged to modernise all maternity units, increase the number of midwives and give women greater choice over childbirth. But the number of maternity beds has dropped by nearly a quarter since it came to power in 1997.

Today's findings, based on responses from 10 NHS health trusts, were obtained by the Conservatives, who attacked the Government for failing to deliver world-class maternity care for women in this country. Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "New mothers should not be put through the trauma of having to give birth in such inappropriate places.

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

Nationally, 4,000 women gave birth in a place other than a labour bed last year - a 15 per cent rise over 2007. In London, the figure was 630 women - although this is likely to be an under-estimate as 13 trusts refused to provide any information.

At the Whittington hospital there were six reported cases last year where babies were born on the antenatal ward because of lack of delivery rooms on labour ward.

Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust said that one woman gave birth in its maternity unit bathroom.

Poor maternity care in London is already costing the NHS almost £27million a year. Health trusts across the capital are paying out hundreds of thousands of pounds to families whose loved ones have died in childbirth and to women who have been badly treated or where negligent doctors have left children severely disabled with brain damage, cerebral palsy or developmental delay.

Payments include £600,000 to the family of a woman who died after giving birth. Jessica Palmer, 34, died less than a week after the birth of her daughter Emily at Kingston Hospital in June 2004.

Two NHS trusts, Kingston and St George's Healthcare, accepted liability over her death after it was discovered medical staff failed to spot she was suffering from blood poisoning.