HEALTH chiefs are planning a new midwife-led unit on the site of Winchester's Royal Hampshire County Hospital.

The aim is to give more choice to expectant mothers over where they give birth.

Women will soon be able to choose between a home birth, the midwife-led unit and the hospital labour ward.

Midwife-led units support women to give birth naturally without medical interventions, such as forceps delivery, Caesarians, or epidurals for pain relief.

They are for low-risk women and aim to provide a more homely, less clinical environment than the traditional labour ward.

If complications develop during labour, women would be transferred to the hospital's consultant-led maternity unit.

A spokesman for Winchester branch of the National Child-birth Trust welcomed the plan.

She said: "It would be fantastic for local women to have more choice.

"Andover has a great unit and I know women who have used it very successfully."

She said more information was needed on when the new unit was likely to open, funding for midwives, and the type of facilities offered - for example water births.

Other plans in the pipeline for Winchester include a makeover for the accident and emergency department, including long-awaited improvements to the children's area.

Managers are also planning to move the outpatient department from its current old and cramped premises into the new Burrell wing of the main hospital.

The plans were revealed in the annual report of Winchester and Eastleigh Health-care NHS Trust.

Managers say mon-ey from selling surplus land and property will fund the relocation and re-furbishment of the hospital buildings.

Last year the trust managed to break even after selling six NHS properties for £12m.

One third of the proceeds was used to help balance the trust's finances while the rest will fund the currently planned building work.