The NHS has confirmed it is not offering classes on how to give birth in a car, following the temporary suspension of birthing services at North Devon District Hospital. The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said it is not providing advice or classes to women, birthing people or their partners on having their babies either on the side of the road or in the back of their cars. It clarified the situation after media reports saying classes were being offered.
“We understand the advice discussed in the media is being shared by an external organisation independent of both the Royal Devon and the NHS,” it said.
“The care of women and birthing people remains our absolute priority, and we are committed to supporting them and their families individually.
“The Royal Devon has contacted women and birthing people immediately impacted by the temporary suspension of birthing services at North Devon District Hospital (NDDH) to develop individual birthing plans that meet their own individual needs, including plans on travelling to hospital when labour begins, and our midwives are continuing to support women and birthing people through regular appointments.”
There has been a huge backlash to the suspension of birthing services at England’s most remote acute mainland hospital, due to shortage of consultants and registrars, which took effect on August 11. Women are concerned about the long distances of up to two hours to alternative birthing units at Exeter and Taunton and fears that their babies could be born in transit on the A361.
The trust said that by the beginning of the week 51 babies from North Devon had been born with no baby being born before arrival in hospital. It said it remains "cautiously optimistic” that it would be in a position to reopen birthing services by the end of September and would agree on a reopening plan next week.
A briefing to the health trust board yesterday acknowledged “the determination to restore birthing services as quickly as possible”.
“The briefing clearly demonstrated the solid progress being made towards securing the required number of senior medical staff required and the board confirmed agreement of these requirements to enable us to reopen safely," said the trust.
“Before confirming a reopening date, the board has asked for final assurance that those requirements have been met in full.
“We remain cautiously optimistic that we will be in a position to do this by the end of September, subject to final board assurances on operational readiness, resilience and sustainability.
“We understand that women, families and the wider community want certainty, and we remain focused on reopening the service as soon as it is safe and sustainable to do so. We will provide a further update once those final assurances are in place.”
The advice from the health trust is:
NHS Denies Car Birth Classes Amid Devon Birthing Suspension