A DEDICATED midwife-led birthing centre could be up and running in Brighton and Hove in less than two years.

The centre, which would cost almost £4 million, would be designed to have a more relaxed, home-from-home atmosphere but will still be based at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

It would be separate from the consultant-run labour ward, but would mean specialist help would be nearby if any emergencies develop.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust board members are expected to be asked to approve plans to develop the centre at their next meeting.

However the idea has already had a positive response from managers, staff and patients.

The centre will have five birthing rooms, with each one including a pool and en-suite facilities.

There will also be two extra post-natal beds.

The centre would be a further option for those parents who are not ready to try giving birth at home but do not want to be in a labour ward environment.

At the moment the only similar option is for parents to travel to the Crowborough birthing centre or the midwife-led unit at Eastbourne District General Hospital.

If complications develop at either of those, mothers need to be taken by ambulance to the nearest consultant-run unit.

The Brighton centre will be based on Level 11 of the Royal Sussex’s Thomas Kemp tower block, which is near the labour ward and the Trevor Mann special care baby unit.

Trust deputy chief nurse, Helen O’Dell, pictured inset, who has been leading on the project, said the initial aim was for the centre to handle about 500 births a year.

However this could increase to 700 as the service develops.

She said: “This centre will not only give women more choice about where and how they want to give birth, it will also help free up space on our labour ward.”

Elizabeth Duff, Senior Policy Advisor at the National Childbirth Trust, said: “We strongly believe that women should have a choice of where they give birth and this proposal could give women just that. There are important benefits when a baby is born in a maternity-led unit – this midwife-led model of care focuses on supporting the woman and her family socially, emotionally and physically.”

Suzanne Jarrett, parent representative and chairwoman of Brighton and Hove Maternity Services Liaison Committee, said: “The birth centre is important for women in Brighton and Hove and surrounding areas because it gives them the option of a midwife-led unit for their choice of birth along with the obstetric unit and the fantastic home birth service that is currently offered.

To make room bosses are planning to move urology services from Sussex House in Abbey Road to the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath and women’s outpatient gynaecology and antenatal appointments will replace them.

The new unit could be open by April 2016.

About 3,500 babies are born at the Royal Sussex every year.