New Mothers Should Not Be Being Turned Away From Maternity Beds Because Of Government Cuts

I'm sure we would all agree that any mother that wants to give birth in a hospital deserves the dignity of a Labour bed and a private room. Sadly, because Labour have left maternity services in the UK over-stretched, this has not always been the case in recent times. As is always the case in the NHS, the nurses and other who work in maternity wards do an incredible job. However, they have been left under-stretched and under-resourced by this Government. This is the result of the Government cutting the number of maternity beds by 22 per cent since 1997.

In too many cases, mothers are being denied a labour bed because units are overstretched. In 2008, almost 4,000 women in England gave birth in a location other than a designated hospital bed, up 15 per cent in 2007. That includes 54 women in our local area. Although some of these births will have been genuione emergencies and unavoidable, we know that many of these cases would have been becuase maternity units are over-stretched and under-funded. Maternity units had to shut their doors to women in labour 553 times last year becuase they were full.

It is quite wrong that new mothers are being turned away from maternity beds becuase of Government cuts. We must ensure that every woman who wants to give birth in hospital has a single room in hospital, so they can give birth with privacy and in dignity.