Home births: Concerns raised over halting of Northampton service

The home birthing service was stopped at the beginning of April at Northampton General Hospital

Concerns have been raised that the closure of an NHS home birthing service will leave mothers-to-be without the delivery of their choice.

Northampton General Hospital temporarily halted the service at the beginning of April because of staff shortages at its maternity unit.

The hospital said it was due to Covid, other sickness and maternity leave.

Becki Scott, a Northamptonshire doula, said: "Having that choice taken away for some people is very scary."

She told BBC Radio Northampton there had always been a shortage of midwives but Covid had "made a massive difference and put a massive strain on the staff that are already struggling".

The non-NHS doula, a trained companion for women giving birth, said for women who want home births "the option of going into hospital is not one that will be beneficial for them, or it's more risky for them to travel into hospital than it is to stay at home".

Emma Waterfield from Daventry had her third child in January and had planned a home birth but was unable to due to staff shortages at Northampton General.

She said: "I had even got a pool ready which was inflated in my lounge but when I went into labour and called the on-call midwife I was told no-one was available to come out so I would either have to give birth alone or go into hospital.

"I didn't want to do either of those but we went over to Northampton and gave birth there."

She said her experience at the hospital was good "but it still wasn't where I wanted [to be] or what I wanted and the choice was taken away from me".

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In a statement the hospital said the decision was "difficult but necessary... to ensure that safe staffing levels continue to be maintained within the maternity unit".

One in five staff on the maternity ward were on sick leave, the hospital confirmed.

It said: "We are truly sorry for the disappointment this decision will have caused."

The hospital added that the staffing issue was not unique to Northampton "as many maternity units across the country are experiencing similar pressures".