Luke Day died last year after contracting MRSA in hospital

Pressure group London Health Emergency (LHE) said concerns were raised in a letter written by a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Epsom Hospital.

The consultant said the patients should never have been placed in such a ward.

Epsom and St Helier Hospitals NHS Trust said: "The situation was far from ideal but they were the only empty beds."

Managers have overridden protests from midwives and other clinicians to tick boxes on a form Geoff Martin

It added: "Given the exceptional circumstances, with four wards closed due to the winter vomiting virus, it was the only option."

Consultant Will Burgoyne highlighted his concerns about a number of patients being movedin a letter to the chief executive of the Epsom and St Helier trust.

He suggested it was to comply with targets on A&E waiting times.

"Last March four patients were admitted directly from casualty on to Simon Stewart Ward (a maternity ward), including one long-term resident of a nursing home and another patient who had... an incipient sacral pressure sore," he wrote.

"Both patients were high MRSA risk and should never have been placed in such a ward."

It happened after the case of one-day-old Luke Day, who died in Ipswich Hospital last year after contracting the superbug MRSA.

Admissions from casualty

Mr Burgoyne's letter continued: "The fact that this occurred only weeks after the tragic death of Luke Day ... suggests that the trust management place patient safety a poor second to meeting government targets."

He said a similar incident happened on a January weekend this year.

"Two high-risk post-surgical patients were transferred onto the maternity ward to allow admissions from casualty, increasing the risk to mothers and vulnerable neonates of contracting a hospital acquired infection."

He said the protests of midwifery staff were overruled by a non-clinically trained manager.

LHE said placing patients at high risk of MRSA on maternity wards threatened the lives of mothers and newborn babies.

The two patients were assessed by clinical staff as appropriate to be transferred to the maternity ward Epsom and St Helier Hospitals NHS Trust

Campaigns organiser Geoff Martin said: "When hospital managers start playing targets with babies' lives it's time for a fundamental change of policy.

"The risks that have been taken at Epsom Hospital are a disgrace and we are demanding an inquiry into how widespread this practice has become."

A spokeswoman for the NHS trust said two female patients were transferred to a maternity ward from a planned care ward on 15 January.

"The two patients were assessed by clinical staff as appropriate to be transferred to the maternity ward.

"All precautions were taken to keep these patients separate from maternity patients in an isolated bay and were cared for by separate nursing staff and not by midwives.

"These patients were in this area for less than 24 hours and the area thoroughly cleaned after they left."