PM says Devon maternity unit will reopen as mums face two-hour journeys

Expectant mothers in North Devon are still facing journeys of up to two hours to give birth, after the temporary closure of the maternity unit at North Devon District Hospital in Barnstaple. The unit has been shut for two weeks due to staff shortages, and the trust says it will not reopen until the end of September at the earliest.

More than 300 women were contacted earlier this month and told they could not give birth there. The nearest hospitals are in Exeter and Taunton, both around 50 miles away on small roads, with journeys taking an hour and a half or more in normal traffic. So far, more than 30 women from North Devon have given birth at Exeter.

The closure has forced some couples to prepare for the possibility of giving birth in a car. Catherine Jomvoo, who runs antenatal classes in the area, has been teaching parents how to deliver a baby by the roadside. She said: "We should be no more than a 20 minute transfer to a safe place to have a baby. Pockets of the country shouldn't be left out like Devon. We're rural and therefore we come last."

Hannah and Lee Roulton, who are expecting their third child, described the added pressure. Their second baby had a complicated delivery and became stuck at his shoulders for 11 minutes. Hannah said: "As much as you can try and control things, some things are out of our hands and this is just one of those things that I can kind of fix a lot of things, however this is not something that I can guarantee that everything is going to be OK."

The trust says there were not enough consultants to run the unit and that the only safe course of action was to close. It also says it knew this was going to be a problem last autumn. Hospital bosses say it was an enormous decision to temporarily suspend services and that they are doing all they can to reopen the unit. But many are wondering when they will finally get the staff.

The issue is not isolated to Devon. Across the country, many maternity services are facing similar challenges around recruitment, particularly of obstetric consultants and workforce planning. There is plenty of evidence that we might see more cases like North Devon.

In the latest development, the prime minister has said he is committed to reopening the maternity unit, after being quizzed by the Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey. No official timeline has been given, but a provisional reopening date of 29 September has been set, with a review on 14 September. However, the home birth team in the area has been suspended since last year, leaving some women with no option but to plan for a hospital birth far from home.

Mum-to-be Zoe Cartlidge, who is due on 18 October, said she is trying to remain level-headed. She originally asked for a home birth but was told there was no home birth team available. She said: "I've gone from thinking I might have a home birth to thinking I might have a birth at Barnstaple to thinking I might have a birth at Exeter. So really, I'm just trying to mentally prepare for all the different options so that I can be as calm as possible in whatever situation I end up in."