Pregnant women in rural parts of the UK are being forced to travel for hours to reach a maternity unit after years of local service closures, according to accounts from readers responding to recent reporting on hospital cuts in Devon and Cornwall.
The closure of North Devon district hospital's maternity services has left women in the region facing what one contributor described as "stark choices" during labour, with some warning that babies could end up being born in laybys along narrow country roads. Women in Barnstaple, north Devon, are now expected to travel around 40 miles to Exeter to deliver their babies, a journey that can be lengthened significantly by rural road conditions.
One reader recalled that her parents had lived in Lynton, north Devon, in 1978, when her mother was pregnant and hoped to give birth at the local cottage hospital where her father had been born. Even then, she was told she would have to travel to Barnstaple instead. Nearly five decades later, women from the same area are now being directed even further afield, to Taunton or Exeter, or advised to remain at home and hope for a straightforward delivery.
The issue is not confined to the south-west. In south Cumbria, first-time deliveries are now only available at Lancaster or Barrow-in-Furness, following the closure of a midwife-led maternity unit in Kendal. Pat Gibson, from Kendal, said that although the unit's closure may have been driven by safety concerns, the loss of experienced midwife-led support had, in her own experience, been the safer option compared with being in the later stages of labour on the hard shoulder of the M6.
Residents of Ambleside in Cumbria can, in theory, reach the Royal Lancaster Infirmary within an hour, but heavy traffic frequently extends that journey. Ambulance transport is not always a faster alternative, with delays of up to two hours before a vehicle becomes available reported by at least one contributor, who described experiencing similar delays when transporting a family member during a medical emergency.
In the Scottish Highlands, women in Caithness have faced comparable difficulties for more than a decade. Since services were downgraded at Caithness General Hospital, expectant mothers have had to travel more than two hours to reach Raigmore Hospital in Inverness to give birth. Julie Adams, from Arbroath, said the distance from major hospital care in the area was also a factor influencing decisions about where to live in later life, after she and colleagues who had worked in Caithness for decades chose not to retire in the far north. She added that the travel distances involved were also causing some young professionals in teaching and healthcare to think twice before accepting posts in the region.
Contributors also linked the closures to wider pressures facing rural communities. One reader, whose details were withheld, noted that working-age residents in north Devon were already being priced out of the area by holiday lets and second homes, and said the added difficulty of accessing safe maternity care compounded existing strains on the local population.
The debate comes as Yvette Cooper, the health secretary, has signalled plans to reintroduce binding national maternity standards, a move welcomed by several contributors. Sarah Sheils, from York, said she was dismayed to learn during a visit to her former home town of Barnstaple that women would need to travel to Exeter, around 40 miles away along narrow country roads, while in labour. She said the plan was "sheer madness" given local road conditions, and warned that some women could end up giving birth by the roadside.
Sheils, who said she had experienced quick labours with her own children, including one delivery complicated by the umbilical cord being wrapped around the baby's neck, said her child would not have survived without access to hospital care at the time. She said she hoped Cooper would act quickly to address what she described as a chronic shortage of midwives in the country.
The accounts collectively point to a pattern of maternity unit closures and service downgrades affecting rural areas across England and Scotland over the past two decades, with contributors warning that the resulting travel distances pose risks to both mothers and babies during labour. No details have yet been confirmed on the timescale or scope of the proposed national maternity standards.
