Pregnant women face having to travel miles to give birth because of a shortage of specialist staff.

Healthcare managers are considering downgrading the maternity unit at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, which might mean some women in Mid Sussex with high-risk pregnancies being sent to Surrey.

A final decision will not be made for 18 months and a panel of doctors, managers and nursing staff is asking individuals and organisations for their views.

Lesley Strong, director of community and intermediate care at the Mid Sussex Primary Care Trust, said: "Having a baby is a huge event in the life of any family.

"Health professionals, planners and families are working together to ensure birth services at the Princess Royal Hospital remain of high quality.

"We need women's help to understand the things that are most important to them."

If the midwife-led unit is downgraded, high-risk mothers will be sent to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

But if that unit is full they could be sent to other hospitals, including Eastbourne, Worthing and Redhill.

Along with the PCT, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Princess Royal, is also looking at supporting doctors by employing more nurses trained to care for newborn babies.

The panel prefers the idea of bringing in such nurse practitioners but it might be difficult to recruit enough because of national shortages and the high cost of living in Sussex.

Eight advanced nurse practitioners would be needed to support the maternity service at the Princess Royal and there are four there at the moment.

The trust hopes it will be able to fill all eight posts by January 2006.

Consultant neonatologists, who look after babies just after birth, are also in short supply. The consultants are only allowed to work from one hospital while on duty under regulations laid down by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

This means a consultant working at the Royal Sussex cannot provide cover for the Princess Royal at the same time and vice versa.

The Royal College says a full-time consultant based at the Princess Royal would not see enough cases to make a post viable.

Surveys will be sent to women in Haywards Heath, East Grinstead, Burgess Hill, Uckfield and Lewes.

Debbie Singh, of the National Childbirth Trust, which has organised the questionnaire, said: "As a charity representing the views of parents, we are delighted to be helping local women share their needs.

"We want to hear from women who have children, as well as those who do not, and women who have used Princess Royal Hospital before as well as those who have not."

The questionnaire is available online at www.nctsurvey.com or people can call Ms Singh on 020 8 569 9622.