New Maternity Places on the Way

1.51.32pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 10th Jul 2007

The great difficulties of local mothers in finding maternity places in local hospitals is set to ease in September when 500 more births (annually) will be catered for at Kingston Hospital (an increase from 5000 per annum to 6000 in two years). The hospital is recruiting midwives and clinical specialists to make the expansion possible.

After a visit to meet the chief executive and board members MP Vincent Cable said: "I have had several anxious mothers approaching me because they have been unable to secure a booking at either Kingston or the West Middlesex. This expansion is very welcome since it was wholly unsatisfactory that women should have to wait until advanced pregnancy before knowing which hospital would accommodate them. We are fortunate that Kingston is a popular hospital for recruiting new staff since the shortage of midwives is creating severe problems in other parts of the UK"