A midwife speaks

Over 1,500 took part in a march through Sidcup on Saturday 1st March (my birthday!) to protest at the planned closures at Queen Mary's Hospital.

The focus has so far been on the loss of accident and emergency facilities at Queen Mary's, but just as important is the loss of maternity facilities at the hospital. Here a midwife speaks to Bromley Times about the impact closures at Queen Mary's will have on the PRU at Farnborough:

"I am here [on the march] because I am livid. "I am worried because we don't have the capacity at the Princess Royal. They have just spent a lot of money only last year on a midwifery-led unit at Queen Mary's so what is the point of spending all that money? "I just don't understand the thinking. We just feel they are not looking at how it is. "The journey from here to the Princess Royal can take an hour-and-a-half. "

The maternity unit at the Princess Royal is very stretched at the moment. It is very stressful. It is continuous. It is day, night, every day, because of the workload. "There is no way they can expand out. There will still be the same number of staff. "We would just have to manage.

Because of the debt, there is no way we can employ more people. It is just an impossible situation." http://www.bromleytimes.co.uk