The situation facing pregnant women in Devon and Cornwall following the closure of North Devon district hospital is not unique (‘Babies will be born in laybys’: maternity cuts leave women with stark choices in Devon, 10 August). Many rural areas have already seen the distances travelled in labour increase due to the closure of local units over the past two decades. In south Cumbria, first-time deliveries are only available at Lancaster or Barrow-in-Furness. If you live in Ambleside, the distance to Royal Lancaster infirmary could be done in an hour, but you can face long delays due to traffic.
An ambulance may do it quicker, but there is often a two-hour delay before one becomes available. As someone who had to drive their partner to hospital following a heart attack, I am more than aware of ambulance delays in Cumbria.
Once upon a time Kendal had a wonderful maternity unit, sadly now closed. It was midwife-led, so now possibly deemed unsafe. But being supported by an experienced midwife was the best outcome for me – certainly far better that being in the second stage of labour on the hard shoulder of the M6.
Pat Gibson
Kendal, Cumbria
This is an issue experienced at the other end of the UK too, where for over a decade mothers-to-be in Caithness have had to travel for more than two hours to give birth at Raigmore hospital, as services were downgraded at Caithness general hospital. This is an issue that makes young professionals think twice about accepting posts in teaching and healthcare in the north Highlands.
At the other end of the scale, that distance from a major hospital led me and other colleagues who had lived and worked in Caithness for four decades to decide not to retire in the far north.
Julie Adams
Arbroath, Angus
My parents lived in Lynton in north Devon when my mother was pregnant in 1978, and she hoped to give birth in the local cottage hospital where my father was born. However, she was told that she would have to travel to Barnstaple. Now, 46 years later, women in north Devon are being told that they need to travel to Taunton or Exeter for “spontaneous” births. Or they can stay at home and hope for the best. It’s horrifying.
Cars may be radically different compared with the 1970s, but congestion on the local roads only gets worse. What next? Plymouth? Bristol? Working-age people are already being priced out by holiday lets and second homes, and now they can’t give birth safely either.
Name and address supplied
Although it is good news that Yvette Cooper, our new health secretary, plans to reintroduce binding national maternity standards (6 August), I was dismayed to discover while on a visit to my old home town of Barnstaple, north Devon, that women will have to travel to Exeter, 40 miles away along narrow country roads, while in labour to deliver their babies. To anyone who knows north Devon this is sheer madness. Women might well end up having to have their babies by the roadside.
I had quick labours and one of my children had the cord around his neck. He would not have survived if we had not been safely in hospital. I hope Cooper can act quickly to address the chronic shortage of midwives in this country.
Sarah Sheils
York
