A Worcestershire midwife claims women will end up having "assembly-line labours" if plans to centralise maternity services goes ahead.

Health chiefs at Worcestershire Acute Hospital's NHS Trust announced on Thursday plans to move all maternity services, known as obstetrics, from the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch to Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Under the proposals a dedicated women's hospital will be set up in Worcester, containing a midwifery-led unit and a consultant-led unit to enable women to choose how they give birth - either natural or by Caesarian section. All expectant mums would have to give birth in Worcester.

But one midwife, who wants to be anonymous, has questioned how the Royal would cope with the extra demand.

She said: "The trust says it wants to create a women-centred unit with consultant-led and midwife-led obstetric units running side-by-side and although this sounds wonderful I want to know when and how the trust think they can realise this proposal when they are already in huge amounts of debt." She said most women were able to give birth naturally without intervention, but feared a centralised service would lead to a "medicalised approach".

"Lack of one-to-one care in labour, unrealistic time scales and managed assembly line labours inevitably culminate in an increased risk of a cascade of intervention which distresses both woman and baby."

"The result? An increased rate of instrumental and C-sections which are costly in terms of morbidity and cash."

And she called for a midwifery-led unit to be provided in Redditch so that low-risk women could have as normal a birth as possible.

"Women need somewhere safe to birth and somewhere they can get to know their baby, recover from the birth and establish breastfeeding - thus giving themselves and their babies the best possible start - reducing problems for later life and promoting long term health for both of them," she said.

"One thing's for sure - the staff at Redditch will campaign until they're blue in the face. But I think the decision has already been made."

But health chiefs say the proposals will offer expectant mums a choice about how they give birth and a higher degree of safety in the case of emergencies.

And at the moment, they say there is a minimum number of births recommended for consultant-led obstetrics units to ensure competence and standards are maintained - and the Alex does not meet this recommended standard.

The proposals are now undergoing more in-depth discussions and will go out to public consultation in October before a decision is made.