NEWS CHANNEL
Published: 28/07/2010 08:57 -
Updated: 28/07/2010 10:23
A limit on the number of babies born at Milton Keynes Hospital at any one time has been put in place.
The move means, should the hospital expect too many births in any one month, would-be-mums could be asked to attend another hospital.
It follows a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report into the death of newborns at the over-stretched maternity ward.
The Healthcare Commission originally made recommendations in December 2008 to address the 'immediate' need for more midwives following the death of baby, Romy Mae Feast in 2007.
Now MK NEWS can reveal measures which could see city mums giving birth elsewhere.
In an average year 4,000 babies, around 334 a month are born at the hospital.
The hospital says that if high numbers of women booked to deliver are forecast for one month, the mums may be contacted in order to offer a choice to deliver at a neighbouring hospital, but only if it is clinically safe for them to do so.
Other new measures include arrangements to provide additional capacity with neighbouring hospitals, such as Northampton or Stoke Mandeville, to support women who choose to book elsewhere.
Also, women who are not registered at practices within the city boundary are not able to book for delivery at Milton Keynes Hospital.
NHS Milton Keynes say this is to ensure they can provide a dedicated midwife for every woman in established labour.
A spokesman said: "These plans will not change the care women will receive from community midwives before and after they have their babies, and will not affect the choices women can make in the type of delivery they experience, for example natural birth or a birth at home.
"NHS Milton Keynes is working closely with Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to ensure continued safe standards of care, in the light of increasing rates of childbirth. In 2009/10 the hospital delivered nearly 4,000, about 300 of which were to women who do not live within Milton Keynes.
Mark Lancaster, MP for Milton Keynes North, said: "As a short-term measure to ensure that mothers are given a first-class service I understand why it is being done whilst the maternity unit puts right the problems that have been highlighted."
