A HEALTH board has denied claims a woman waited for six minutes outside a maternity unit before she gave birth on the pavement in freezing temperatures.

Lisa McNeil, 25, said baby Jackson arrived while she was waiting for midwives at Victoria Hospital in Fife to answer a door buzzer.

Miss McNeil claimed that she, her mother and her partner, all from Glenrothes, had been buzzing the entry system, banging on the door and shouting for help for several minutes before the 8lb 14oz infant was born in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Her claims sparked calls from a patients' rights group for an inquiry.

But NHS Fife has disputed the claim, saying phone records and video recordings have been reviewed and midwives were with the woman two minutes after her arrival at the building.

A spokeswoman for the health board said the family had initially pressed the bell for assessment services and not the delivery suite. They called the delivery suite a minute later and midwives opened the door just under a minute later, with the baby being delivered shortly after.

The spokeswoman added: "NHS Fife appreciates that this will have been a difficult time for the family. However, it is not always possible to predict the speed of delivery."

Miss McNeil said her mother, Karen Barnes, 46, had to use her cardigan to stop the baby's head hitting the concrete pavement, as temperatures dipped to -4C. She said: "It was like a horror movie. I was in a lot of pain and bleeding. I had no choice but to give birth there and then."

Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the Scotland Patients Association, said: "It's totally unacceptable that in the year 2012 we have a lady giving birth in the street. This lady had, sensibly, called ahead to let them know that she was coming and there should have been someone waiting at the door to meet her."