THE birthing centre at Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital is to temporarily close from Monday for a number of months during a £300,000 upgrade.

The revamped Bracken Birthing Centre will feature two new en-suite rooms, including an additional birthing pool when it re-opens in the early summer.

During the closure, women will have the option of giving birth at the Mary Stanley Birthing Unit, at Bridgwater Hospital; the labour ward at Musgrove; or at home under the care of the community midwifery team.

Additional services such as 24-hour breastfeeding support and assessment in early labour are available in all three options.

The Bracken Birthing Centre upgrade has been funded by Musgrove's League of Friends, which raised £50,000 from last summer's Taunton Toad Trail, along with £250,000 from legacy donations left to the league for the benefit of patients.

Philippa Quinn, ward sister responsible for the centre, which caters for mums-to-be with a low risk of complications, said the new facility would have a modern feel with better lighting and temperature control.

She added: "We are delighted that we will be able to provide a comfortable, modern birthing centre for parents-to-be in Somerset.

"While mums-to-be will not be able to use Bracken to give birth during the building works, there will be alternative options for place of birth during this time and women will continue to be able to access postnatal and feeding support at the centre.

"We are contacting all women who were booked in to give birth in Bracken over the next few months to let them know the other options available to them – a birth at the Mary Stanley Unit at Bridgwater Hospital, Musgrove Park Hospital’s labour ward or a home birth.

"We also want to extend a huge thank you to our League of Friends for the amazing Toad Trail fundraising campaign, which proved a real hit over the summer.

"Without the league’s support we wouldn’t have been able to achieve this upgrade so soon."

The scheme is the first of three major improvements that are taking place at the hospital’s maternity unit this year.

A second project will begin in April to upgrade the unit’s reception and waiting areas, and the final phase will include refurbishment work on the labour ward, which will start in May.