POOLE Hospital has announced improvement plans to its maternity unit costing nearly £500,000 – despite health chiefs' plans to move the services to Bournemouth.

Two of the hospital’s eight labour rooms have undergone a £125,000 redesign and refurbishment and the hospital said a further £200,000 will be spent renovating four more rooms this year with plans to complete the final two at a cost of approximately £100,000 next year.

A public fundraising appeal has also been launched to raise £48,000 for eight infant resuscitation units costing £6,000 each for each suite.

But according to NHS Dorset CCG’s controversial Clinical Services Review plans, Poole's maternity unit and neonatal unit would be relocated to the preferred major emergency hospital Royal Bournemouth Hospital where a new state-of-the-art maternity and paediatric unit would be built.

John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance: "Any reasonable refurbishment should be carried out efficiently to make sure it is value for taxpayers' money. It is crucially important that wards are safe and are of an acceptable standard, but costs must be kept down."

The work at Poole includes making the delivery suite rooms at St Mary’s Hospital bigger and with new en suite facilities.

Each room will also have wall-mounted units which enable temperature regulation for babies as well as resuscitation facilities, the hospital said.

Funding for the improvements so far has included a £25,000 donation from Poole Hospital Charity with the rest from Poole Hospital.

Sandra Chitty, head of midwifery said: “It’s important that we continue to provide not only the best care possible but the best environment too.

“The response from mums who have used the new rooms has been really positive – these improvements form part of our ongoing commitment to providing the best birthing experience possible.”

There were 4,935 babies born at St Mary’s maternity unit in Poole last year compared with 385 at RBH.

Poole Hospital defended its decision to spend money on the work.

A spokesman said: “The trust’s aim is to upgrade all the rooms in the labour ward over the next 12 months.

“The implementation of the proposals outlined in the Clinical Services Review will take several years once they are agreed – the women of Dorset require modern, fit for purpose facilities now.”

In 2014, Poole Hospital redeveloped its midwife-led birthing unit called the Haven Suite, which features five delivery rooms with state-of-the-art birthing pools and facilities, as part of a £4m building programme to help it cope with an expected 1,400 extra births a year.

For more information on Poole Hospital’s fundraising drive go to justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/phwl/Maternity