EXPECTANT mums had to be transferred from the understaffed Worcestershire Royal Hospital to the Alexandra Hospital, despite plans to axe the department altogether.

The Advertiser can reveal that over the new year weekend, some mums-to-be at Worcester were advised to go to the Alex instead.

The maternity department at the Alex is one of the vital services which could be cut in an effort to save up to £27 million. Gynaecology and paediatric departments could also be axed.

Campaigners are concerned that if the Alex loses its maternity department Worcester will not be able to cope with increased patient numbers.

Greenlands man Neal Stote, who is spearheading the savethealex campaign said: "If the unit at Worcester can not cope with current levels of maternity patients there is no way it could cope with dealing with Redditch patients as well."

He added: "The most ironic bit of this story is that despite Worcester Royal being a relatively new hospital the maternity unit is smaller and has less capacity than the one it replaced. The question has to be asked who decided that the birth rate in Worcester would go down therefore justifying a smaller unit."

But, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust chief executive John Rostill said: "Someone is being mischievous if they are trying to link this with any future proposals for obstetrics in Worcestershire because there is no link."

He said that more maternity patients are actually transferred from Redditch to Worcester than the other way around, because the Alex does not deliver babies of less than 36 weeks.

"In these particular circumstances the patients concerned were advised of the change a considerable time before the arrival date. They were very low risk cases and raised no objections to the change of site."

He later added: "The total number of births at Redditch and Worcester is about 5,000 a year. If there was to be a centralisation of services then this is a perfect number to create a dynamic and vibrant centre of excellence. If that was to be the eventual conclusion we would have to move services from Worcester to make space for this proposal."