Women in labour turned away by maternity units

Maternity units in London were forced to close 51 times last year because of overcrowding.

Women in labour were turned away because of the closures, which were caused by shortages of beds and staff.

Most lasted for less than 24 hours but one unit was shut to new admissions for three days.

The shutdowns are revealed in a report which also shows the midwife vacancy rate is 10 per cent in parts of London, partly because of recruitment freezes.

Top obstetricians complain that staff shortages are putting mothers and babies at risk.

Professor Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, head of obstetrics at St George's Hospital in Tooting, said up to half the country's units were understaffed.

"Deliveries in London have been going up by 2.5 per cent every year, which means thousands of extra babies. We need more beds and better planning.

"We do our best in London but if you have 12 beds and 14 women in labour you have just got to move quickly to transfer them to neighbouring hospitals. It is not ideal but the nature of maternity is that it is unpredictable."

The report for the Nursing and Midwifery Council also reveals:

Midwives fear that hospital reorganisations are putting too much pressure on services and leading to errors.

There are not enough midwife supervisors to meet standards and there is a lack of training in how to read fetal monitors.

Trusts are failing to notify the midwife supervising authority of major incidents.

Midwives are too overworked to attend training meetings. There are 4,985 midwives in London, up from 4,590 last year, but demand is soaring and some posts are still empty.

A spokesman for NHS London said all but one of the council's standards had been met and midwifery was a "priority area".

He added: "A continued decrease in midwifery vacancy rates and increase in the number of midwives practising in London is good news but as clinical activity also increases we must ensure supervisors continue to monitor and support midwives in safe practice. We continue to recruit supervisors to undertake this role."

As at 31st March 2007