The tags would help eliminate any risk of babies being abducted from the units at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford’s Princess Royal.

Hospital bosses are looking at way of raising the cash to introduce the system, possibly next year.

The plan is revealed in a security report from corporate director Julia Buckley which is being presented to the annual meeting of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust next Tuesday.

“Maternity and paediatric units need to be properly secure,” she says in the report.

“Although instances of security breaches nationally are thankfully rare, the trust needs to be vigilant and remain alert to the risks that are present.

“Whilst security measures in maternity and paediatric areas have been addressed in the past, a comprehensive review of the existing security measures need to be completed.

“The most significant security risk pertaining to these areas is the attempted abduction of a baby or child.”

Mrs Buckley, who has responsibility for security management matters, says the maternity service has identified a system of “discrete” electronic tags which can be attached to babies.

This would allow their location within the units to be monitored and any attempt to remove the baby or tamper with the tag would alert staff.

“The installation of this system is seen as a key milestone in improving the level of security within the maternity departments,” she adds.

Mrs Buckley said today that stringent security measures were already in place.

“It is an issue that we take very seriously,” she said.

“We are currently pulling together a business case and contacting suppliers to work up some proposals.”

Her report also looks looks at the action being taken to minimise the risk of physical assaults and verbal abuse by patients or their families against staff.

Last year there were 54 physical abuse incidents reported at the Princess Royal and 43 at the Royal Shrewsbury.

More than half were not intentional.

By Dave Morris