Building work started yesterday on a new £1.2 million midwife-led maternity unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary.

The new unit will be called the Birth Centre and will cater for women with a low-risk pregnancy and birth, with all care provided by midwives.

The development is part of the national Maternity Matters strategy, which guarantees that women should be offered the choice of where they give birth.

Head of midwifery at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Julie Walker, said everyone was thrilled about the new development.

“We have done a lot of planning over two to three years and we are excited it is coming to fruition,” she said. “It is something that is good for the women of Bradford.

“The new midwife-led facility will provide women with a maternity service that is safe, provides high-quality care and offers real choice in the range of services available.”

At present all of the 6,000 births a year at the hospital take place on the consultant-led labour ward and higher-risk women will continue to give birth on this labour ward with input from a multi-disciplinary team, led by obstetricians.

The Birth Centre will be created by redeveloping this existing labour ward and will see the creation of a seven bed unit for women who want to have a labour with less medical intervention.