Traumatised new mothers today reveal the "terrifying and demeaning" state of London's maternity wards.

Women have bombarded a new website with complaints about overcrowding, filthy wards and cockroachinfested dining rooms.

They describe being turned away by midwives and being forced to stand for hours while they wait for a bed to become available.

The revelations come after maternity wards in London and the South-East were criticised by the health watchdog. One leading trust admitted it was struggling to cope with the number of women giving birth.

Beverley Lawrence Beech, of the Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services, called on midwives to threaten to strike.

Ms Beech said: "This is a huge problem. Large centralised obstetrics units in London are grossly understaffed and overcrowded.

"If a midwife is nasty to a woman in labour it can have a terrific emotional impact. But if she is looking after five women in labour at the same time is it surprising she gets short tempered?"

One 23-year-old, known as Maree, published her complaint against Lewisham hospital on www.patientopinion.org.uk. She said she was turned away by midwives less than an hour before giving birth in April. When she refused to go, staff told her the only pain relief she could have was paracetamol.

She said: "It was the most terrifying, confusing and demeaning experience.

All I could do was go into the bathroom where I could slap myself to take my mind off the pain."

Another woman said she cried when she saw filthy showers and paint peeling off the walls at Basildon hospital, while a woman who gave birth at St Helier hospital described its maternity unit as a "nightmare", adding: "I felt alone, isolated, and nobody even told me how I got access to meals."

Anotherwrote of West Middlesex University hospital: "I had to report cockroaches in the eating area. One woman in labour was sick in the bathroom across the floor and walls at 8pm and it was not cleaned until 9am the next day."

One woman who visited the overcrowded hospital last week said many heavily pregnant women were forced to stand while they waited hours for beds.

A spokesman for the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital, part of University College London Hospitals, said: "We admit we don't have the capacity to cope with the number of women who want to have their babies here."

A new £70million maternity unit will open in November, he added. "We are not aware of significant bottlenecks every single day but there are issues with capacity."

NHS London's chief nurse Trish Morris-Thompson said: "In August NHS London announced a £ 60million improvement programme to drive up standards and ensure mothers receive the care and treatment they expect.

"London has a higher number of mothers with complex maternity needs, a higher proportion of late presentations and a rising birth rate. The programme is designed to address these problems in the coming months and years."

A spokeswoman for Lewisham hospitals NHS Trust said: "Lewisham Hospital has a plan in place to improve maternity services."

Ms Beech said: "The conditions midwives have to work in are outrageous. They should threaten to down tools and say they are not prepared to work."

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