Health bosses have reassured expectant mothers they will be able to give birth at Wycombe Birthing Centre from November amid fears it would close down for good in the wake of a midwife staffing crisis.

Mums-to-be expressed their anger last week after learning they could not have their babies at the centre this summer, with Karen Proctor from High Wycombe saying she did not want to “give birth at the side of the road” if she is forced to make the 15-mile journey to Stoke Mandeville hospital.

The trust announced the centre, which sees around 20 pregnant women a month, will suspend its birthing service between July 25 and October 31 due to a staffing crisis, causing an uproar among mothers-to-be who were hoping to have their babies there.

Carolyn Morris, chief nurse at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust said the decision was taken after a “full assessment” and was deemed to be the “safest and least disruptive” option.

She said: “The midwife-led service offered at Wycombe Birth Centre offers a home from home birthing environment for women expecting an uncomplicated delivery and is very much valued by mothers who give birth there.

“The decision to temporarily transfer the care of women planning to give birth at Wycombe was taken after a full assessment and was deemed to be the safest and least disruptive option for all the women who benefit from our maternity services.

“We recognise that this may be disappointing to those women and we apologise sincerely.”

The trust said the measure was “temporary” order to recruit new midwives and enable staff from the birth centre to be deployed to cover unfilled shifts across other parts of the service.

Ms Morris said this was due to “unanticipated midwife vacancies” which led to around 40 unfilled shifts a month and a 15 per cent turnover of midwives over a short period of time.

She said they normally plan for around a nine per cent turnover.

She said: “There have been a number of vacancies in recent months which had not been anticipated, including the resignation of a small number of midwives who left at the same time in July.

“We have implemented a number of measures to maintain a safe service during this time, including staff working additional shifts, using agency staff and cancelling study leave.”

She told the BFP the trust was in the process of recruiting 24 new midwives, without saying why the other midwives had left, and was “confident” it would be able to offer women the option of giving birth at the centre by November 1 as planned.

Speaking about the centre, she said it would not close and that women would continue to have the “full support” of their community midwives and have access to the centre for antenatal and outpatient postnatal care, which receives around 700 visits from mothers and babies every month.

She said: “We are proud to be able to offer expectant mothers across the county the full range of birthing options – home birth, midwife-led birth centres and a consultant-led labour ward – which are in line with national recommendations.”

When asked whether there would be a possibility of having a permanent consultant based at the centre full-time, she said: “There has been a midwife-led only birth centre at Wycombe Hospital for nearly ten years.

“This followed a decision, taken after a full public consultation, that Stoke Mandeville Hospital offered the appropriate level of specialist staffing support and infrastructure which is needed to support a consultant-led service.

“This includes immediate access for mothers and their babies, should they need it, to services such as neonatal specialist care, emergency theatres, and a fully equipped spinal unit.”