Baby boom at hospital busts maternity budget

A baby boom in Wolverhampton has sent delivery figures at New Cross Hospital soaring, pushing the maternity unit more than £200,000 over budget, it emerged today.

In December the unit reported its busiest ever month, with 372 babies compared to just 347 in November.

It comes after it was announced that £3million would be spent creating extra classroom space in four primary schools to accommodate the surge in the number of children. The hospital points out its overspend is just a fraction of its total budget.

New Cross spokeswoman Carole Regan said: "We seem to have having a baby boom in Wolverhampton at the moment, and that accounts for the increase in the number of births taking place here at the hospital.

"This overspend only represents 1.9 per cent of the budget to date and is mainly due to increasing activity levels."

So far in the current financial year, the trust has spent almost £11.1m on the obstetrics and gynaecology department – £208,000 over its budget for the year. A total of £20,000 of this overspend took place in December.

A further £8,000 has been spent in the delivery suite on top of what was expected, along with £13,000 on wards and a further £8,000 in theatres.

The hospital as a whole has gone more than £2.54m over budget.

Last year, a review found that labour wards in Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton hospitals were overstretched as all had seen significant increases in births.

Russells Hall Hospital is expected to deliver 333 more babies before the end of 2012 than expected, Walsall will see 277 extra births and New Cross will have 110 extra babies born.

In October last year it emerged that hundreds of women had been turning their back on Stafford Hospital and were instead choosing to give birth at New Cross, leading to a rise in the number of births.

The closure of Sandwell Hospital's maternity unit has also put pressure on surrounding hospitals.