A NEW birthing pool is sitting unused at a Hampshire maternity hospital - because health chiefs cannot afford the plumbing.

The £5,900 state-of-the-art pool was bought for Southampton's Princess Anne Hospital by league of friends volunteers earlier this year.

Funded entirely by profits from the organisation's shops, tea bars and trolleys, the pool was delivered in March. For the past three months it has sat unused because health bosses cannot afford the £7,000 installation costs quoted by contractors.

A similar pool installed at the Princess Anne's birthing centre last October - also funded by the hospital's league of friends - is already in almost constant use, with 70 babies born in the water since the end of January alone.

In the same period, 200 women have also used the pool to help with pain relief during the course of labour.

A smaller number of women have also used an older birthing pool in the hospital's labour wards.

Fundraisers who helped buy the latest pool have spoken of their frustration that it cannot be put into use.

The Daily Echo understands several prospective fathers have even offered to help install the pool for free after learning of the hospital's cash-strapped predicament.

League of Friends chairman Sallyanne Hurst said: "We ordered the new pool in January and it was delivered in March I believe."

"It is a shame it is not yet working as the one we bought last year is very active. We do not want to have to pay out extortionate amounts of money on installation costs.

"We work hard to raise every penny and it would be quite unreasonable for us to be expected to meet these costs. A lot of volunteers would have worked a lot of hours to raise the £5,900 in the first place."

As reported in the Daily Echo last month, Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust is struggling to make savings of £15m after plunging into the red for the first time. At the end of the last financial year, the trust - which has a total budget of £330m - had a £5m deficit.

Hospital spokesman Marilyn Kay today confirmed there were insufficient funds to meet the £7,000 costs of instal-ling the new birthing pool.

She said a local company had offered to supply the labour and equipment needed and this was being looked at. She added that the hospital's estates team was in talks with the firm to determine whether or not stringent insurance and public liability requirements could be met if they went ahead and carried out the work for free.

"The League of Friends kindly offered to buy this pool and fundraising is continuing to have it installed," said Mrs Kay.

"The pool is not an essential piece of equipment but the icing on the cake. We are a huge hospital and the pool will need to link in with our existing drainage systems and meet certain conditions laid down by the NHS."