A new father said he had to hold up a light that had fallen from the maternity ward ceiling while his baby was being born below.

Jules Wilkinson said the lamp "started to unscrew itself" at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester, while his wife Lisa was in labour.

The hospital's chief executive said Stepping Hill needed "at least £400m" to address building issues, while Cheadle MP Tom Morrison said he was raising the matter in Parliament.

The government said Stepping Hill was receiving tens of millions of pounds for maintenance and new buildings.

Wilkinson said: "As my wife is giving birth the lamp started to unscrew itself... almost hits the midwife in the head... and literally falls out the ceiling.

"It is on one of these Anglepoise arms and it just unscrewed itself."

Wilkinson told BBC North West Tonight he put the lamp on his shoulders "literally hanging on by the chord" and held on to it "for the next hour or so" until his baby had been delivered.

He said the maternity suites were "getting on a bit" and recalled how the birthing pools had been out of action because of a lack of heating.

But he was keen to stress that "staff are doing their best".

Morrison and his fellow Liberal Democrat MP Lisa Smart, who represents nearby Hazel Grove, recently had a "behind the scenes" tour of the hospital.

They were shown corridors with ceilings held up by scaffolding and buckets catching rainwater from leaking roofs.

"What I've seen is just horrific actually," said Morrison. "This hospital has been badly let down by successive governments and it's time for this government to start acting."

Smart added: "Patients are being let down. Staff are not able to give the amazing care that we know they give because the government is not funding the new buildings which would cost far less to run.

"And that's what we're calling on the government to deliver."

Karen James, chief executive of the Stockport NHS Trust which runs the hospital, said: "Over 65% of our estate are classified in the worst categories and as time goes by the capital stock we've got - the ward areas, the estate as a whole - is getting worse every day."

She said many of the buildings from the Victorian era that were not yet collapsing or leaking were also no longer fit for purpose.

To meet modern standards for beds and equipment, wards in the main building would need 60% more space so to upgrade them would reduce the number of beds by more than half, she said.

Rebecca Chamorto, divisional nurse director for medicine and urgent care, said conditions made life hard for staff and patients.

She said: "Staff work in a confined environment with lack of storage and coming in, if it's been raining sometimes, we do get leaks so we have to check.

"From a staffing perspective they come in each day with motivation and they deliver really good care despite the environment that they have got."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "This government inherited an overstretched NHS with huge waiting lists and the hospital estate left to crumble.

"Whilst decisions about local services are a matter for the local NHS, we are providing the investment and modernisation needed to get patients the care they deserve, in hospital buildings fit for purpose.

"In September we confirmed £26m of funding to deliver a new pathology building at Stepping Hill, as well as a further £17m for maintenance and repair schemes, through the estates safety fund - part of £1.5bn confirmed investment so far for projects to address urgent maintenance problems across the NHS estate."

They also said the trust had been allocated £75m in "operational capital" to be spent on local priorities over the next four years.