PREGNANT women will once again be able to give birth at an east Cleveland hospital after a successful recruitment drive.

Campaigners formed a "Mums' Army" when the South Tees NHS Trust closed the maternity unit at Guisborough Hospital in November last year because of a shortage of midwives.

But now the Guisborough unit, where about 130 babies are born each year, can reopen next June, because the trust has managed to fill more than the 15 full-time vacancies needed across the trust to keep it open.

Campaigner Karen Rule is thrilled with the news.

"We got thousands of names on a petition against the closure," she said.

"We just couldn't believe the response. I just hope people keep choosing to go to the Guisborough unit. One of my children was born there and it was a lot more comfortable and friendly and convenient for visitors."

MP Ashok Kumar met the chief executive and the chairman of the trust and made the local people's views clear.

He said: "This is a great day for mothers to be in Guisborough and in east Cleveland.

"It was clear there was a huge amount of feeling on the issue.

"Now it's time for us all to look forward to the first bouncing baby to be born in the new unit."

Trust chairman John Foster said he understood local people may feel disappointed that the low-dependency unit, which has nine patient beds and two delivery rooms, could not be opened sooner.

"We have always said, when we reopen the unit we want it to stay open," he said.

"I would like to pay tribute to senior midwife Fran Toller and her team who have been successful in recruiting midwives in the face of a national shortage."

Alison Hughes, the trust's divisional manager for women and children, said: "Around 130 babies are born at Guisborough each year compared with 3,500 at The James Cook University Hospital and 1,200 at the Friarage in Northallerton.

"We want to significantly increase the number of women choosing to deliver at Guisborough and we are looking at ways we can do this such as offering a drop in service for pregnant women with concerns and possibly providing an ultrasound scanning service."