Cotswold is a midwife-led unit for women with low-risk pregnancies who are not expected to need any interventions in labour, including epidurals.

BBC: Cotswold Maternity Unit in Chipping Norton closed

There is a lot of money in epidurals.

BBC: Birth drugs 'could prevent bonding'

In the first part of her study, published in the British Medical Journal last year, Ms Ashcroft said the units she studied continued to carry out high-risk procedures such as performing epidurals, despite all being short of staff.

BBC: The study looked at labour units across the north-west