Fears that the maternity unit could close at either Eastbourne District General Hospital or the Conquest Hospital in St Leonards have been allayed, for now.

East Sussex Downs and Weald and Hastings and Rother Primary Care Trusts (PCT) have agreed to provide money needed to keep both units open until next March.

Changes in the way junior doctors are trained come into force at the start of August, leading to less experienced doctors, who need more supervision, working on wards .

East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust was considering options to provide enough cover for a safe service and one option had been to close one of the units.

This would have meant pregnant women travelling an extra 20 miles to hospital.

However, the extra funding means the trust can now work on contingency plans, which are likely to include changing rotas and shift patterns and looking at recruitment so both units can stay open.

However both PCTs are in the middle of a separate public consultation, which could lead to either hospital losing consultant- led maternity services.

Campaigners fighting to keep full services at both hospitals welcomed the news units are staying open but warned the battle is still on.

In a joint statement the PCTs and hospital trust said: "The PCTs and East Sussex Hospitals have agreed interim arrangements for maternity services after August 1, when national changes to junior doctors' training come into effect.

Under these interim arrangements, the two maternity units at Eastbourne and the Conquest will remain open.

"Public consultation is currently underway on options for East Sussex maternity services, including for these units, for the longer-term."