Maternity units are 'conveyor belts' because of bed shortage

Mothers are giving birth on NHS 'conveyor belts' with beds being used for more than one birth a day in some maternity units, claims a report.

The experience of childbirth for many women is blighted by a lack of beds, showers and toilets, according to the Healthcare Commission.

Staff shortages and poor team working is also blamed for poor standards in some trusts, including those that have been investigated for unacceptable rates of deaths among new mothers.

The report contains an in-depth review of maternity care in 150 trusts in England. It was triggered three years ago by Sir Ian Kennedy, chairman of the Healthcare Commission, who admitted maternity services were 'not as good or as safe as they should be'.

Although on average a bed in a delivery suite is used for 0.7 births a day, this can be much higher, says the report.

'Some trusts have as few as two beds per 1,000 births per year, which means that each bed is used for 1.4 births per day. This seems excessive and there is clearly a need to increase the capacity of delivery beds in these units.'

The need for more bathrooms was highlighted more than ten years ago.

But the situation has barely improved, with only one in six units having one bath per delivery room, half having one or more baths for every four delivery rooms and a third of trusts providing one shower per delivery room.

Among 'key concerns' are staffing levels in some trusts which were 'well below average, indicating that they may have been inadequate'.

It concluded that it is virtually impossible to give women proper choice over where to give birth – one of the Government's key aims.

'In practice, the choice of types of maternity unit is currently very limited, because our review found that about two-thirds of trusts had only obstetric units.'

Overall, one in five trusts with maternity units were rated as performing poorly when the initial findings were published in January.

One in three trusts did not provide personal support from a named midwife.

Campaigners say an extra 900 consultants and 5,000 more midwives are needed to ensure safe maternity services.

Conservative shadow Health Minister Anne Milton said: 'This report exposes Labour's neglect of maternity services.

'When there are already concerns about safety, it's particularly worrying that many more maternity units are set to be downgraded in the next few years and that so many neonatal units are set to shut.

'Labour talk about more choice for pregnant women, but the reality on the ground is that women now have less choice.'

The Chief Nursing Officer for England, Christine Beasley, said: 'Women tell us they want more choice in their maternity care, including how and where they give birth and we are listening.

'That is why, in January, we announced an additional £330million funding and action to recruit an additional 4,000 midwives by 2012.'