A one-stop hospital clinic for mums-to-be who abuse drugs or alcohol has delivered 558 babies in Bradford since it was set up a decade ago.

In its first year, the award-winning clinic at Bradford Royal Infirmary, delivered 28 babies with suspected withdrawal symptoms.

In 2000 this shot up to 50 and peaked in 2005 with 71 babies born with suspected withdrawal from drugs or alcohol. There were 63 babies delivered in 2008.

In response to the increase in workload, the one-stop maternity drug dependency team at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, has also grown in size.

Joanne Kirk, a drug liaison midwife, said: “The clinic started in April 1999 and I came in June and I remember at my first clinic there were four members of staff and six patients. Now we have up to 30 patients a clinic and 14 members of staff. We are a true one-stop service where women can come and have all their needs met in one appointment.

“We like to see the women as soon as possible in a pregnancy. Potentially they will have smaller babies, premature babies and an increase risk of bleeding with continuing drug use. But if they are stable on medication the risks are reduced. If they aren’t in a drug treatment programme they will be fast-tracked along with their partners.”

The team is led by Dr Padma Munjuluri and made up of midwives, health visitors, specialist drugs workers and a prescribing service. They also work with a number of external agencies, such as the Farcliffe Family Centre in Manningham.

Over the ten years the clinic has had 707 referrals and offered 5,564 appointments.

Once delivered the babies go to the special care baby unit or to the newer transitional care unit which allows mums and babies to stay together. Mums are encouraged to breast feed as this offers a natural detox.

Helen Stansfield, a specialist clinical drugs worker and junior cognitive behavioural therapist, said: “The women can have a problem with anything from heroin to crack cocaine, to prescription drugs or alcohol. If the women are on a treatment programme their whole lifestyle tends to be more stable so it is better for the baby.”

Babies born addicted to heroin suffer the worst withdrawal symptoms. These include irritability, poor feeding, sweating and diarrhoea.

“It depends on the individual baby and what mum was taking,” said Joanne. “If it is heroin then it starts sooner than if it is methadone and opiate symptoms are different – that causes more medical problems and with alcohol it varies. The worst that can happen is foetal alcohol syndrome but thankfully we don’t see a lot of that.

“The biggest change over the ten years has been an increase in the use of crack cocaine. Alcohol is also a much bigger problem.”

It is hoped the Born in Bradford research project, to which the vast majority of the babies born over the past two years in the city have been recruited, will provide some answers as to how the development and health of the children has been affected by their early exposure to drugs and alcohol.

e-mail: claire.lomax@telegraphandargus.co.uk