Women in labour had to travel up to 20 miles away to give birth when a maternity unit was forced to close.

Staff shortages due to sickness meant the unit at Eastbourne District General Hospital could not take in any patients for nine hours.

Women had to go to the Conquest Hospital in St Leonards or other maternity units further afield to give birth.

The maternity units at Eastbourne and the Conquest are at risk of being downgraded as part of a shake-up services in the county.

East Sussex Downs and Weald and Hastings and Rother Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) are carrying out a public consultation.

The options put forward by the PCTs are for full maternity services at one hospital and midwife-led ones at the other or full maternity services at one hospital and none at the other.

Protesters from the Save the DGH and Hands off the Conquest campaigns have drawn up an alternative plan, called Option 5, which says full consultant-led maternity services should be kept at both hospitals.

Save the DGH campaigner Liz Walke (crct) said not enough staff were being employed to work at the unit.

She said: "If a unit has to close like that when staff go off sick then there is something wrong and it is clear there should be more staff recruited so they are able to cope.

"This area has one of the highest rates of maternity units being forced to close because of shortages and demand and yet here we are at risk of having them downgraded."

A hospital spokesman said: "The maternity unit at Eastbourne DGH was on divert for new admissions on Sunday between 9am to 6pm due to staff shortages caused by sickness.

"Diverting new admissions is in accordance with the trust's contingency plan, developed in the interest of the safe provision of care to women and babies.

"It is not uncommon for maternity units to work together to provide a safe level of maternity care across the county.

"Although this is disruptive to the individuals affected, we make no apology for putting mothers and babies safety first.

"This is a national problem and it needs to be recognised that neighbouring NHS trusts also find it necessary to divert patients from their midwifery units from time to time.

"Part of the reason for the current consultation on maternity services is to seek to address the difficulties this trust and other trusts face when labour ward activity is high and staffing is stretched, particularly for trusts where services are divided between two hospitals."

The spokesman said its maternity unit was up to its full quota of staff and it did not have any vacancies.

Were you affected by the closure on Sunday? Call the newsdesk on 01273 544519 or leave your comments below.