WORK is well under way on a new million-pound maternity unit at South Tyneside District Hospital which is scheduled to open in July.

The unit will provide some facilities that have never before been available to pregnant women on South Tyneside, including nine self-contained rooms with en-suite facilities and a birthing pool.

Facilities in the dedicated operating theatre and bereavement suite will be vastly improved in the new maternity unit.

Midwives and mothers were consulted throughout the design and construction process, and the new facility will cater for almost every requirement for women in labour and their families.

Bronwen Boddy, the project leader and a midwife who has been instrumental in helping to bring the new facilities to fruition, said: "Because those who will actually be using the unit - midwives and mothers - designed it, the facilities are second to none.

"Every room will have en-suite facilities, a television and plenty of space to move around.

Sometimes mothers-to-be also like to listen to music during labour so each room is sound-proofed for privacy."