A mother who gave birth on the roadside fears this will happen regularly to other mums if maternity services are centralised in Carlisle.

Kerrianne Beattie’s daughter Isabella, now almost five months, was born in her grandmother’s car on the way to hospital.

Knowing the baby was coming there and then, and with an ambulance nowhere nearby, they were forced to pull over on the road out of Workington, outside the Traveller’s Rest. Kerrianne’s mum, Pauline Banks, then delivered Isabella.

They then waited 15 minutes for an ambulance to take them to the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven. But, when it still hadn’t arrived, Pauline decided to drive her daughter and new granddaughter – who was getting increasingly cold – there herself.

Tiny Isabella was suffering from hypothermia on arrival, and spent the next 24 hours on a special warming mattress.

Kerrianne, of Low Seaton, said she had originally wanted a home birth, but was classed as too high risk.

She said they were just lucky there were no serious complications, or she and Isabella may not be here today.

“If she’d had the cord round her neck it would have been life or death, and if I’d haemorrhaged I’d have been snookered,” she said.

The mum-of-six is urging NHS bosses to secure the long term future of Whitehaven’s consultant-led maternity unit, and scrap options that could see some or all births centralised in Carlisle.

Kerrianne, a healthcare assistant, said when Isabella was born, the ambulance service was so overstretched they could not get to her on time, and can not handle any further pressures.
Isabella Beattie

Isabella was born on April 30 this year, at 39 weeks.

Kerrianne had been to Whitehaven hospital earlier that day but was told she was not in labour and allowed home.

However, just before 8pm, her labour came on suddenly.

“My 15-year-old rang my mum and told her how much pain I was in. She came to pick me up,” she said.

“We got into town but my waters had completely broken. We stopped by the old fire station and phoned an ambulance. They said it was on its way. After about 10 minutes we decided to drive on.

“We got to the Traveller’s Rest and I said ‘the baby, it’s coming’. My mum delivered her right there in the car.”

Luckily Pauline is a nurse practitioner, so had some medical knowledge – though she’s not trained to deliver babies.

Kerrianne said she was panicky, but her mum stayed calm.

She said the story just highlights how difficult it is to plan ahead when it comes to labour, and the complications that can arise. And it also shows the ambulance service can’t cope as it is.

“The ironic thing is I was told I was too high risk for a home birth, then I ended up having her in a car,” she said.

“I didn’t even get out of Workington. I’d never have made it to Carlisle. I can’t understand why they’d even consider taking these maternity services away. It will put mothers and babies at risk.”

She added that because of the avoidable hypothermia, she missed vital bonding time with Isabella while she was in the incubator.

“I have written to the ambulance service, not because I think it’s their fault, just to highlight what happened,” added Kerrianne.

“It’s the cutbacks they are having to face. They don’t have the resources even now. If this goes ahead it wouldn’t surprise me if the mortality rate went up.”

A spokeswoman for North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) said: “A 999 call was made to us at 7.58pm on April 30, for a lady who was in labour.

“Seconds after the call was made, the baby was born safe and well surrounded by her family.

“The nearest available ambulance was dispatched from Keswick at 8.02pm but at 8.17pm the decision was made, with the agreement of the family, that they could make their own way to hospital allowing the ambulance to stand down and become available for life-threatening emergencies.

“Our Emergency Medical Dispatcher stayed on the line until they arrived at the hospital. We wish the family well for the future.”

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Maternity – what’s the plan?

Earlier this year NHS Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) approved plans to centralise consultant-led maternity services in Carlisle, despite widespread opposition and concerns for the safety of women in labour

They did however agree to give the Whitehaven service a one-year reprieve to see if the NHS and community can work together to tackle long-standing recruitment issues, which bosses say are making it unsustainable

If this fails, the West Cumberland Hospital will be left with only a midwife-led unit, with only low risks births taking place there. All other women will have to travel to Carlisle, while anyone who experiences complications while giving birth in Whitehaven will have to be transferred by ambulance to the Cumberland Infirmary, 40 miles away.

If this option is deemed unsafe, the CCG also approved a third option: to centralise all births in Carlisle, leaving only antenatal and postnatal services at the West Cumberland Hospital

Concerned councillors have referred these plans to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who has just ordered an independent review.