A NEW era for birthing in East Lancashire begins today with the opening of the Rossendale Birth Centre.

The unit, in Rossendale Primary Healthcare Centre in Bacup Road, Rawtenstall, is the third and final centre to open in East Lancashire as part of a major change in maternity care.

It will have two home-from-home, en-suite birth rooms, with a birth pool in one of the rooms, and will be managed by midwives, encouraging healthy women to give birth naturally in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere.

Its opening follows the launch of Blackburn Birth Centre in September, and the unveiling of the Lancashire Women and Newborn Centre at Burnley General Hospital last month.

All healthy pregnant women in East Lancashire can now choose between a birth at home, supported by midwives, at their nearest birth centre, or in the £32million centre in Burnley.

Women who are likely to have more complex births are advised to have their babies in hospital.

Rineke Schram, consultant obstetrician and medical director of East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, said: “Different women have very different needs during birth, and our new model of care allows us to make sure everyone’s needs are fully catered for.

“The midwife-led birth centres are a fantastic choice because they foster a relaxed atmosphere in which they can go through labour at their own pace, in the position most comfortable for them.

“A stress-free birth is the best possible start a mother and baby can have.”