Women looking for a water birth will now be able to have full use of the newly refurbished midwifery-led birthing unit facilities at Hinchingbrooke Hospital.

This follows recent building refurbishments undertaken to address structural issues with the roof, and at the same time improve the services for patients and staff.

This included creating a staff room, soundproofing the walls and redecorating.

The works meant the birthing pool was out of action for three months, but it is now open for women who want the option of a water birth.

Rowena Chilton, deputy head of midwifery, said: “Our staff have worked really hard to ensure that the works took place, whilst continuing to support women in labour on the unit.

"I am so pleased that this has now been completed and we can reopen the Primrose Suite and birthing pool facilities. I would like to thank our staff and families visiting the department in recent months for their support throughout the process.”

Arshiya Khan, deputy chief executive and chief strategy and transformation officer, said: “I am really pleased to see that we have been able to complete the recent works on our maternity unit.

"This is one of many areas that we are working on at the moment as part of our ongoing programme across areas of the hospital where we have identified structural issues with concrete panels used in the roof.

“Our redevelopment of the Hinchingbrooke site is continuing at pace with the build of a new main operating theatres block, which is due to complete in Autumn 2023.  

"We are looking to the future for Phase 3 of our exciting redevelopment programme. This is dedicated to building a new hospital on our site by 2030.

"We have already been holding workshops with our staff to gather their expert view on what we need to best care for our patients in the future and will be engaging with the public once we have more details to share.”