MATERNITY services are bursting at the seams and Barnet Hospital maternity department is closing three times a week because it is full, according to midwives.

Pregnant women due to give birth are instead transferred to Chase Farm Hospital's maternity unit, and health professionals are worried that plans to remove the unit's consultant will affect patient safety.

Sometimes there is only one maternity consultant between the two hospitals, which each deal with more than 3,000 births a year.

Pat McAdden, 64, a Chase Farm midwife with 27 years' experience, said cutting maternity capacity at Chase Farm and taking away its maternity consultant was dangerous because pregnant women who seem to have a normal labour can suddenly go into difficulties.

Patients are also told to come to hospital as late as possible, which makes it harder for the progress of their labour to be monitored, she said.

"Sometimes you can assess the situation and predict difficulties but sometimes you can't. At Chase Farm we currently have a consultant downstairs and if a patient needs an emergency cesaerean she can be downstairs in theatre in five minutes.

"But if she has to be transferred, it takes ten minutes by ambulance, and then we might have to wait another ten minutes to find an ambulance.

"You can lose a baby in that time.”

Despite regularly closing to new entrants, the closures never show up on any official records because both hospitals are part of the same trust, Barnet and Chase Farm NHS Trust.

The trust did not deny the closures but said the safety of mothers and their babies was its priority and the changes would make services safer, better and more accessible.

A spokeswoman said: "Most mums don't need specialist consultant care and are happy to be treated by their midwife from antenatal care through to the birth of their baby - and Chase Farm will continue to offer midwife-led services.

"Transfers are already taking place between hospitals across London and, thanks to medical advances, women and their babies can now be treated throughout the transfer in specialist neonatal ambulances."

She said the proposals provided for more money for ambulances and to increase Barnet’s capacity as part of a £100m expansion.

The trust maintains that by merging the two consultant-led services, it can make sure it has cover 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a full support team of clinicians.

But it denied the changes were prompted by a national shortage of midwives.

Another Chase Farm midwife, 30, who did not want to be named, said one problem a midwife dreads is when a woman goes into preeclampsia, an extremely painful condition that affects between five and eight per cent of pregnancies and can be fatal for mother and baby.

"That's touch-and-go sometimes, the babies have to be delivered straight away,” she said.

"It's not always known where that comes from and it's hard to predict. If we were to shove someone off to another hospital, it's dangerous."

According to the trust the changes are about providing better care rather than saving money.

It also says staff have been fully involved in the changes.

A spokeswoman said: "Staff representatives were closely involved in the design of the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey clinical strategy and we continue working with them as we develop more detailed plans for the implementation.”

What do you think? Is Barnet and Chase Farm Trust right to think a re-organisation of services will be better for patients? Or do you share the midwives’ fears? Let us know in the comment box below or email scosgrove@london.newsquest.co.uk