Brighton hospital to modernise labour ward

The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton is to spend a six-figure sum modernising its labour ward.

A £400,000 grant will fund refurbishment of the birthing rooms in the hospital’s Thomas Kemp Tower in Eastern Road, Kemp Town, and others at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the two hospitals, said that the revamp would “improve the environment and experience for expectant parents”.

The money has come from a £25 million capital funding programme and, the trust said, would be used “to renovate and enhance privacy and dignity in the labour wards”.

Women in labour at both hospitals currently have to leave the privacy of their birthing room to reach shared toilets and bathrooms via a public corridor.

The trust’s acting chief executive, Chris Adcock, said: “This is money to invest in the infrastructure and fabric of maternity units.

“We will be using ours to modernise and refurbish our birthing rooms, including the much-needed addition of en suite facilities, which will vastly improve the privacy and dignity of women on our labour wards.”