POSSIBLE moves towards closing the recently-reprieved birthing unit at Romsey Hospital have been revealed this week.

However, health bosses in South-West Hampshire say nothing has been decided yet as alarm bells again began sounding over the future of the four-bedded unit and the future of the birthing units at Hythe and Lymington, which have seven beds each.

If they did close, it is likely that the service at present provided by those three units would be transferred to a newly-created maternity centre at Snowdon House, at Ashurst Hospital.

But a spokesperson for the Eastleigh and Test Valley South PCT stressed that, in compliance with Section Seven of the Health and Social Care Act, there could not be a closure of the units until a full consultation has taken place.

The maternity service is provided by Southampton University Hospitals Trust, but the building containing the unit at Romsey is owned by the Eastleigh and Test Valley South PCT and those at Hythe and Lymington by the New Forest PCT, which also owns Ashurst Hospital.

SUHT is looking at future needs and provision and a report which went before the Eastleigh and Test Valley South and New Forest board yesterday, said: "A review of the birthing units suggests a need to improve the quality of care and the efficiency of resource use by developing a new, modernised service in a single location for the New Forest and Romsey, one that would be busy enough to run efficiently, close enough to the Princess Anne Hospital, in Southampton, to allow rapid transfer if necessary, but also accessible to mothers who choose not to give birth in the consultant-led unit."

It adds that there were also possible options for a "consolidated birthing unit" at both Hythe and at the Fenwick Hospital, near Lyndhurst, which had maternity facilities for many years.

Options for the possible closure of five community hospitals in South West Hampshire sparked a storm of protest last year, with the PCTs eventually deciding against the idea.

Opposition to the new proposals is already building up and Laura Perry, who led the previous campaign against closure, said there will again be a petition calling for its retention.

Laura, who was due to have her third baby yesterday, will not be leading the campaign this time, but she said: "We are not going to take this sitting down and we will be running a petition in conjunction with Hythe and Lymington.

"Obviously, they've made their minds up that they are going to close it, because it's not just Romsey that's under threat, it's Hythe and Lymington as well.

"It's horrendous. People from the Romsey area are not going to go all the way to Ashurst, which means they will go to the bigger hospitals, which are under-staffed and extremely busy already."

And Romsey Hospital League of Friends chairman, Jean Denham, said: "We are opposed to anything we see as a possible reduction in the good service to the public of Romsey and I very much hope they do not close it."

Mrs Denham, who has contacted the Southampton University Hospitals Trust since the latest scare arose, added: "The League of Friends has continued to show its support by providing £8,000, which was given by the public, for bathroom units."

Karen Baker, Southampton University Hospitals Trust's director of operations in the division of women's and children's services, issued a statement stressing that nothing had been decided.

She said: "We have been reviewing maternity services in the greater Southampton area since 2005, when the rising birth rate forced us to close Romsey Birth Centre for a short while.

"As part of the review, we have been holding regular meetings with staff to ask for their ideas and discuss options for improving services and ensuring safety.

"We have made no decisions about the future of maternity care at this point in time, but we do wish for the local community to have its say on how our services should be run.

"I can reassure local people that a lengthy period of public consultation will be held before any changes are made to our services, including any plans for our birth centres.

"We will involve and include in our consultation everybody with an interest in local maternity issues." One of the first to express her concerns over the possible closure was Mildred Sillence, who lived in Romsey for over 40 years and had two children at Romsey Hospital.

Now living at North Baddesley, she said: "I am particularly concerned for the mothers of today if they have to go to Ashurst. Just imagine what that would be like in the rush hour for someone in labour.

"We fought hard to keep Romsey hospital open, but now they are talking about closing the birthing centre and it makes you wonder what else might be closed."