Staffing issues and spike in births highlighted after Glasgow maternity unit shutdown

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said the unprecedented shutdown at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital yesterday was caused by a spike in admissions and a string of complicated childbirths.

However, the Herald understands that the crisis comes amid a recent rise in births at the Queen Elizabeth and trade union concerns over a ban on using 'bank' staff to cover weekend and evening overtime in a bid to cut costs. A meeting had already been scheduled for next week between Unison activists and local management to discuss the issue, prior to events yesterday.

Read more: Expectant mothers turned away as 'full' Glasgow maternity unit forced to close

It also comes after warnings that proposals to axe two community maternity units at the Vale of Leven Hospital in Alexandria and Inverclyde Royal Hospital will pile pressure on existing services. Under the plans - which will have to be approved by the Scottish Government - mothers would instead give birth at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley or Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth and Princess Royal Maternity hospitals.

Expectant mothers arriving at the QEUH maternity unit in Govan from early yesterday morning were forced to wait hours in maternity wards because all 12 labour rooms and both operating theatres were full.

In some cases patients were having contractions minutes apart on a packed maternity ward while still waiting to be transferred to a labour bed.

By lunchtime, others were being turned away and sent to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley and the Princess Royal Maternity as the maternity wards also ran out of beds. Among the patients sent elsewhere was a woman arriving for planned Caesarean section who had already been fasting for 24 hours.

Read more: Expectant mothers turned away as 'full' Glasgow maternity unit forced to close

It is the first time since the unit completed a £28 million revamp in December 2009 that it has been forced to close to new admissions.

The health boards said no patients were endangered and the unit re-opened around 5pm.

Mary Ross-Davie, director of the Royal College of Midwives Scotland, stressed that the decision to close the unit was right to "put patient safety first".

She added: "We are aware of recent pressures. There seems to have been a rise in the number of births at the QEUH in recent months. We've been raising that locally with management to make sure that staffing levels match that level of activity, so that the number of staff on, the number of midwives working, are always safe."

She said it was unclear what was driving the spike in births.

Matt McLaughlin, regional organiser for Unison in Glasgow, added: "This latest issue would appear to support our ongoing concerns with staffing levels across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and you have to question the board's proposals to close maternity units in other communities at a time when, clearly, they don't have enough staffing or the ability to cope at the Queen Elizabeth."

Read more: Expectant mothers turned away as 'full' Glasgow maternity unit forced to close

Concerns were raised previously after figures showed a 27 per cent cut in maternity beds across the health board between 2012 and 2015. NHS bosses took the decision to reduce bed numbers in 2010 because "bed occupancy was low at the time".

A spokeswoman NHSGGC said: “We have an arrangement where we use our three maternities to manage peaks in demand across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

“The divert – to the nearby Royal Alexandra Hospital and the Princess Royal Maternity – was put in place due to a high number of admissions to the QEUH and a number of women and babies developing complications.

“We arranged for three women to be admitted to other maternity hospitals in our area and a further two women had their planned procedures safely deferred for a matter of hours.

“Patient safety was maintained at all times. We would like to apologise to anyone to whom this caused any distress.”