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.

Andover already has a community maternity unit run by midwives.

Juliet Beal, acting chief executive of Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare Trust, said: "Women who have used our Andover Birth Centre think it's marvellous and so we want to bring the same experience to Winchester.

"In the meantime I would urge women to consider the Andover Birth Centre, it's there for anyone, not just people from Andover."

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.

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 outpatients department from its current old and cramped premises into the new Burrell wing of the main hospital.

The plans were revealed in the latest annual report of Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare Trust.

Managers say money from selling surplus land and property will fund the relocation and refurbishment 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 books while the rest will fund the building work.

Steven Milligan, director of finance, said: "It's a common misconception that we are using money from estate sales to plug any black holes in the budget.

"In fact millions of pounds is being reinvested to ensure that both our hospitals have the right buildings and facilities to continue providing a wide range of high quality patients services for years to come."

A spokesman for the Winchester branch of the National Childbirth Trust welcomed the plan.

She said: "It would be fantastic for local women to have more choice. Andover is a great unit and I know women who have used it very successfully."

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