Chaos and panic in maternity

Nothing in our previous experience of the Whittington Hospital could have prepared me, a mother-of-four, or my friend, Desse Antoniou, for the mayhem in the maternity unit two weeks ago when I acted as surrogate granny during the birth of her daughter.

In the 24 hours Desse spent in the pre-labour area in the maternity unit, three babies were born in neighbouring beds without attendant midwives because not enough were on duty. Nineteen babies were born that day - three by Caesarean, which added to pressure on both doctors and midwives.

The screams of the mothers and the terrified shouts of the fathers calling for help left other expectant women, including Desse in a state of panic. It was chaos.

I was with Desse in the absence of her own mother, who was looking after her 15-month-old son, Kaya, whose birth I also attended.

Desse went into hospital accompanied by another friend on 15 December at 3pm because her waters had broken. The baby, her second, was not due until New Year's Eve but Desse had lost some fluid two weeks before and the Whittington had said if she lost more they would induce.

She had an internal examination by a first midwife shortly after she arrived. That midwife said she was not in established labour and if nothing had changed in 12 hours, labour would be induced. But she was not properly examined again until she was seen by a second midwife shortly before I arrived at 11pm. At 3am on the sixteenth, after Desse and I had walked the corridors for hours to keep her comfortable, the second midwife said labour would be induced later in the day.

The problems on 15 and 16 December were caused partly, the midwives told us, by a sudden rise in births, several premature. But the fundamental problem, all agreed, was too few staff.

The Whittington is a large teaching hospital, and each labour delivery bed is supposed to have two midwives. Some procedures, like induction, can only start if the mother can be continuously attended.

The maternity unit, converted from an old Victorian ward by dropping a nurses' work station into the middle, has two wards for early labour and post delivery, Cairns and Cairns Link and the seven-bed labour unit. Cairns and Cairns Link look like glorified corridors, barely wider than their row of beds.

The labour unit itself is well laid out, with delivery beds in separate rooms. Its problem is staff. Where 14 were needed on the sixteenth, four were on duty. There were some ancillary staff, including a health care assistant run off her feet.

By noon on the sixteenth there was still no delivery bed free and Desse was told she would be moved instead into one of the private side wards - if one became free. One didn't. Instead she lay on in Cairns with me at her side and we listened as the three babies were born.

After the birth of the second baby, Desse was imagining all the things that could go wrong with her own delivery. Before that baby arrived the mother had been screaming horrendously. Then there was silence. The father shouted, 'The baby's here,' through the curtains and two midwives came at the run from Cairns Link. Mother and baby were apparently fine.

By 3.30pm, a labour ward bed became free and Desse, by now petrified, was taken in. Midwife number three went off duty and her place was taken by two more, who promised to induce shortly but in the meantime brought a monitor. It recorded the baby's heartbeat, which remained strong, but not Desse's condition. Then those midwives were called to a difficult birth and Desse waited until 8pm for a fresh set to arrive and, at last, induce her.

Desse gave birth to a healthy daughter, Angel, at 10.45pm after 32 hours in hospital. In the early hours another new mother was moved to share her labour room - as by then no post-natal beds were free. Desse was discharged at 10am on the seventeenth to free her bed.

Not all my experience of the Whittington has been bad. My husband has had two recent operations and excellent care. The midwives on duty during Desse's labour were from all corners of the world, as were the mothers. The staff were all clear the situation was often bad. The mayhem of 16 December was not that unusual.