A woman in labour rushed to King George Hospital’s maternity unit on the day it was due to close because she and her boyfriend believed there was no space for them at Queen’s.
Just hours into the first week of controversial new maternity arrangements that saw the Goodmayes unit shut its doors, Leva Zemaityte and her boyfriend drove four miles from Romford so she could give birth there.
The reason? She’d been left in a corridor at Queen’s for 40 agonising minutes.
Campaigners believe her case proves the Romford labour unit can’t cope with demand – and vindicates their opposition to King George’s maternity ward closure.
Boyfriend Daunys Donatas, 26, said: “There was no space for us and we were in the corridor.
“The nurse said it wouldn’t be long but, after waiting 40 minutes, the pain was getting worse and worse and I told them we were leaving.”
Mr Donatas then drove his girlfriend straight to King George, where he works as a porter, and she gave birth at 2.19am on Monday.
Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust said Queen’s was not over capacity at the time but apologised for the delay.
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