A KIDDERMINSTER man has called for a self-contained unit for terminations at Worcestershire Royal Hospital after a painful experience while emotionally supporting his wife.

Adrian Taylor, 33, said he had been left "sad and empty" during the 17-hour ordeal when their premature and disabled baby was delivered.

He and his wife Vicky, of Godson Crescent, took the difficult decision to terminate their baby in the 19th week of pregnancy when tests revealed spina bifida and fluid on the brain.

Mrs Taylor, 32, was taken into a delivery suite at 3pm, ready for the baby to be induced and went through a 17-hour delivery supported by Adrian, knowing their baby would not survive. Eventually, she gave birth to the baby they named Kenny at 8am the following day.

During this traumatic period Mr Taylor had to go out of the delivery room several times to use the telephone and get drinks.

He said: "Because of the position of our delivery room, I had to walk past nine other delivery rooms to get to the telephone or in and out of the unit and through a waiting room for relatives of expectant mothers.

"On one occasion, some of the doors to these rooms were open and I saw several mothers who had just given birth and I also heard some of the other mums actually giving birth.

"I knew my wife was back in our room giving birth to our baby which would not survive. I felt sad and empty."

He believed the unit should be laid out so the delivery room for terminations was self-contained - away from other mothers giving birth and their relatives.

Mrs Taylor, who is now expecting again, made it clear she could not fault the care she had been given.

She added, however: "They never seem to think about the father in these situations."

Spokesman for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Richard Haynes, said he could not discuss individual cases because of patient confidentiality.

He explained that staff on the Worcester unit were well aware of how upsetting a procedure of this kind could be for the patient and their families and tried to be as sympathetic and considerate of everyone's feelings as possible.

He said: "Unfortunately, we only carry out one or two of these procedures a month and we don't have the facilities to have a separate waiting area.

"It is likely somebody coming to visit a patient having a termination will see other visitors to the delivery suite while they are outside the private rooms."

He added that patients undergoing terminations at Worcester had a greater level of privacy than would be the case in some other hospitals.

He said: "In any hospital in the country, if a patient came in for a procedure like this it would be carried out in a delivery suite in the interests of patient safety."