Trust bosses at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford have pooled their resources with the League of Friends charity to splash out £250,000 on a new midwifery-led unit.

The unit, which opened on September 1, was officially opened on Friday and will eventually cater for 1,000 mums a year.

The unit was established for mothers who want natural births without needing a consultant or an epidural.

There are well-established midwifery-led units at Wantage, Wallingford and Chipping Norton hospitals, but until now women in Oxford have had to use the consultant-led delivery suites at the John Radcliffe.

Head of midwifery Linda Allan, who runs the new unit, which features a birthing pool and a sensory room with special lighting effects, said: "Low-risk women, who do not want a home birth but are aiming for a natural delivery, can now choose to come here — it's particularly good for women in Oxford as they now have a midwifery-led unit of their own.

"Women who are assessed as low risk without any pregnancy complications, including those expecting their first child, can come here.

"Emergencies are very rare and if necessary a consultant will come up."

So far there have been 96 births at the unit, including 24 pool births.

Lesley Bain, 35, from Dalton Barracks, Abingdon, was the first woman to use the unit and gave birth to daughter Maisie on September 1.

She said: "The midwives were fantastic and I was made to feel very comfortable. It was a very easy labour and I went straight home afterwards."