Ms Dugdale said at the time that 46 beds in the generalwards were occupied by patients who were medically fit to leave but were waiting for a care package - such as support from social services.
But a survey for the charity Mind last year found that three quarters have no mother and baby unit and more than one in ten still admitted mothers and babies to general psychiatric wards.
Medical and nursing staff on these general intensive care wards could urgently be given training in how to care for young children instead of the usual adult patients they encounter, says the joint statement.
No longer would Citigroup or General Motors, which were saved by taxpayers and are wards of Washington, be able to lobby as if they were stalwarts of sink-or-swim free enterprise.
Dr Beverly Malone, Royal College of Nursing general secretary, welcomed the emphasis on giving ward sisters and charge nurses the authority to decide the staffing levels on wards.