A Devon hospital has sparked outrage after offering pregnant women in the area classes on how to give birth in their cars.
Speaking to GB News, Liberal Democrat MP Ben Maguire hit out at the “shocking” move, arguing that if we “saw this kind of state of healthcare in a third world country, we’d be genuinely shocked”.
North Devon District Hospital has sparked chaos after the sudden closure of their maternity unit, forcing local pregnant mothers to endure road journeys of up to two hours to Exeter to receive treatment.
Those in need of the unit, which has temporarily closed due to staff shortages, are now being offered classes on how to give birth in their cars on the motorway, parked on the hard shoulder.
Discussing the closure on GB News, the MP for North Cornwall argued that what his constituents and neighbouring constituents are having to face is “awful”.
Mr Maguire said: “Shocking doesn’t even really begin to cover it, does it? If we saw this kind of state of healthcare in a third world country, we’d be genuinely shocked.
“But here we are in the UK in 2026, and my constituents in Bude and residents in my neighbouring constituency of North Devon are facing this reality today.
“And it’s absolutely awful that the poor women, and I must pay tribute to the the women who have had to suffer this anxiety in the past few weeks, over the summer, at a time that nobody wants to be anxious. This should be an exciting time, looking ahead, looking forward to the birth of their new child.
A Devon hospital has sparked outrage after offering pregnant women classes on how to give birth in their cars following the closure of a local maternity unit
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“And instead, we’ve seen the trust make this decision to close their maternity unit.”
Mr Maguire highlighted that local MPs have started a petition to reopen the maternity unit.
He said: “It is absolutely shocking to see suggestions that pregnant women would be forced to have their children in a lay-by.
“But I’m really delighted to see my neighbouring constituency MP Ian Roome in North Devon has worked with me to get 15,000 signatures now on a petition to reopen the unit, and we’re hearing that that re-opening should happen by the end of September if everything goes well.”
The maternity unit at North Devon District Hospital has been forced to temporarily close due to staff shortages
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The MP stressed: “But how did we get into this situation? Residents in Bude live in a town which is the most remote from any major hospital in the country, and they don’t have the option to just go to another hospital.
“You’re talking up to Exeter an hour and a half on a good day, up to Taunton probably closer to two hours on a good day. Bus travel, you’re looking probably at 2.5 hours. How they expect pregnant women to do that is beyond me, and it’s a really shocking state of affairs.”
Having spoken to the hospital trust, Mr Maguire revealed that the unit only started advertising for new roles “last Friday” despite experiencing issues for far longer.
He told GB News: “The key issue that the North Devon Hospital trusts have cited again and again is a lack of specialist maternity consultants who can staff the ward and keep it open. But I must admit, I was really disappointed when I met the trust.
“I asked, how long have you had the adverts up for the consultants, how long have you been recruiting, how long have you been advertising? They said ‘oh well, the advert went up last Friday’, and you just have your head in your hands.”
Mr Maguire told GB News that there must be an assessment of the ‘wider strategy’ to recruit maternity staff
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The Cornwall MP argued that there is a need to assess the “wider strategy” in recruiting maternity staff in the South West.
He said: “This isn’t a situation that happens overnight, these are very well-paid people that run these hospital trusts. And I know it’s difficult to recruit in rural areas, that’s a national issue, it’s not just a Cornwall and Devon issue.
“And we need to look at that, and funding is a part of that. We know that housing in Devon and Cornwall is very expensive, that’s not always making us a very attractive place to come in practice, so we do need to look at the wider strategy.
“But I must admit, I do put a certain amount of blame at the the door of the trust here because it feels like they’ve kind of sleep walked into this situation where they’ve had to, in a last minute panic, close this very, very important unit at North Devon Hospital.”
In a statement, a Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust spokesman told GB News: “We’re continuing to work urgently to restore birthing services at North Devon District Hospital and continue to make solid progress on recruiting the medical staff needed to safely reopen the services.
“There has been no change to the temporary suspension of maternity services as of today.”