A WOMAN who lives two miles away from the Birmingham hospital where she had her first child has been told that she cannot have her twins there.

Zakera Reyes, an engineer with Network Rail, is 19 weeks pregnant, but has been told she cannot have her babies at Birmingham Women's Hospital because it already has its full quota of 600 women booked for August.

"The alternative hospital I've been given is City Hospital, in Winson Green, where I've refused to go due to past family experience," said Zakera, aged 32, who lives in Edgbaston.

"I don't believe it has the same standards. My last pregnancy was high risk because I had ruptured membranes and was under the care of a consultant.

"I am furious. If my last pregnancy was straightforward I could have contemplated another hospital.

"I was very happy with the care I had at the Women's Hospital and I want to be seen by the same consultant as he knows my medical history.

"I'm now in contact with Heartlands Hospital, in Bordesley Green, but I've been told I will have to wait four weeks before I can even have my first scan."

Mrs Reyes only discovered she was carrying twins after she went to the Women's Hospital in Edgbaston, and refused to leave until she had a scan.

Staff obliged, even though she is not booked in with the hospital, and urged her to contact her GP.

Birmingham's health watchdog, Coun Deirdre Alden (Con, Edgbaston) said: "It's shocking that people who live so close and who try to book in within plenty of time are being turned away from the hospital.

"If this is the case, there clearly isn't enough maternity provision within the Edgbaston area and the NHS needs to think about providing more.

"Is there a sudden increase in the number of women giving birth in this area, or have they cut facilities?"

A spokeswoman for Birmingham Women's Hospital said: "We have been unable to accept Mrs Reyes under our care because we are fully booked for the month.

"We have offered assistance by suggesting other maternity units in Birmingham as well as contacting Heartlands, which is able to provide Mrs Reyes with maternity care.

"Having more women than we can care for is both dangerous to mother and baby, therefore we do have to turn away a number of women when we have reached capacity for the month their baby is due."