Midwives are bracing themselves for a big rise in the number of new arrivals at Medway Maritime Hospital.

About 400 more mums are expected to give birth at the delivery unit in Gillingham each year if plans to close maternity services at Maidstone Hospital go ahead.

Full maternity services for the area will be moved to Pembury Hospital, leaving Maidstone with a birthing unit, which will be unable to deal with complicated births or give pain relief such as epidurals.

Campaigners in the county town are concerned women who suffer difficulties in labour will face lengthy transfers to Medway, Pembury or Ashford.

Their fears were heightened last month when a Maidstone mum gave birth in an ambulance on its way to Medway.

Maria Marques was turned away from Maidstone Hospital and told to go to Pembury Hospital, 16 miles away.

With time running short, the ambulance tried to divert to Medway because it was nearer, but baby Fabienne was born five minutes away from Medway Maritime.

Staff at Medway Maritime Hospital, which has the largest maternity unit in Kent, already deliver an average of 4,800 babies each year.

A spokesman for the hospital said: "Medway NHS Foundation Trust has been planning for the reconfiguration of Maidstone's maternity services for some time now to make sure that we have the capacity to look after those mothers who choose to have their babies at Medway."