Forcing mums-to-be to travel 'may prove fatal' as 500 extra births to go to New Cross Hospital from Walsall Manor's failing maternity unit

That was the stark warning from one health professional in the wake of news that 500 births will be moved from Walsall's Manor Hospital to Wolverhampton's New Cross.

Walsall Clinical Commissioning Group announced the move yesterday on the back of maternity services at the Manor being branded 'inadequate' by the Care Quality Commission.

It will affect up to 200 patients newly registered with 16 GPs in the Cannock Chase district from Monday, who will be told to go to New Cross instead.

But Lynda Lake, assistant manager at Dr J.S. Chandra's practice in Hednesford which will be affected, said: "This is going to cause a lot of problems to our patients.

"It is such a long distance away to get to New Cross. What about if someone goes into labour?

"It is bad enough that they were swapped from Stafford when that was downgraded. This could cause the death of a baby."

Ms Lake, aged 45, of Hednesford, is a former technical officer at New Cross and claimed there are often traffic problems getting to the Wednesfield-based hospital from Cannock.

She added: "I had to start work at 9am and I had to leave at 7am just to get there and find a parking space. "

Meanwhile, the Support Stafford Hospital group has declared now is the time to re-instate a fully-fledged maternity department at Stafford's County Hospital after it was downgraded from a consultant-led facility in January last year.

Campaigner Julian Porter said: "Why don't they just reopen Stafford's maternity unit? When they moved it, it put more pressure on Stoke, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

"They are all struggling and the common denominator is Stafford. Just who is looking at health services in the Midlands? There needs to be some joined-up thinking."

Other Staffordshire surgeries were not yet concerned. Heather Brace, manager at The Colliery Practice, in Hednesford, said patients had yet to express concerns. While Clive Cooper, who runs Moss Street Surgery in Chadsmoor, said it was too early to tell if mothers-to-be on their books would be affected.

Gary Young, spokesman for Cannock Chase Clinical Commissioning Group, confirmed that Cannock patients already booked in at the Manor would be requested to transfer to New Cross, while patients registered from Monday would be told that the Manor would not be an option. However, he added that expectant mothers could still opt for Royal Stoke or other sites.