'Not giving birth in a car park is a good job'

"If we had waited, we probably would have had to have our baby in a car park."

Jenny, who lives at Parracombe on the Devon side of Exmoor, gave birth at a hospital more than one hour away after the closure of her closest maternity unit.

She said she would have gone to North Devon Devon District Hospital (NDDH) in Barnstaple but, due to the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust suspending maternity services from 11 August, she had to travel 51 miles (80km) away to a hospital in Exeter.

The mother-of-three said her waters broke in the early hours of 19 August, the day she was due to be induced.

Because of that, she and her partner Ed decided to leave early instead of waiting for contractions to ensure they were in hospital for the birth.

After announcing it was "cautiously optimistic" birthing services could resume by the end of September, the Royal Devon trust board is due to meet on Wednesday to review the progress towards reopening, and said it would provide more information as it became available.

Jenny said: "Once my contractions did start, he was born two hours later.

"It's a good job we decided to go early because, had we'd waited for contractions, which is the normal for deliveries, we probably would have had him in the car park."

Their son, Phoenix, was born at 05:03 BST, weighing 10lb (4.5kg), was healthy and well, she said.

When the trust announced birthing services would be temporarily suspended on 6 August, she said they went through the different scenarios, including whether they would even attempt to get to Exeter or if they should just "stay put and call an ambulance".

Talking about her experience, Jenny said she had no complaints about staff at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital maternity unit.

She said: "You can see the staff are really busy and are trying their absolute hardest to get everything done for everybody.

"I can't fault them at all."

However, she described the management which led to maternity services at the North Devon District Hospital being suspended as "appalling".

"How they've handled it and how it did get to this stage, because they had known about the staffing issues for quite some time, I think is ridiculous," she said.

A spokesperson for the trust said it was making "solid progress" and recruiting the medical staffing needed to achieve reopening of the Barnstaple maternity unit "safely".

The reason for its closure was due to staffing issues and suspending services was the "only safe course of action", affecting expectant parents in north Devon and Cornwall.

Angela McConville, chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust, welcomed the possible resumption of maternity services in coming weeks, but stressed women and parents needed "clear information about what happens next" and any reopening must be sustainable.

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