A Sussex hospital antenatal ward has been closed down because of a critical shortage of midwives.

The ten-bed ward at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton will be shut for the foreseeable future while bosses try to recruit more staff.

Beverley Beech, from the Association for Improvements in Maternity Services (Aims), has written to Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust chief executive Stuart Welling to raise her concerns about the "deplorable" state of midwifery staffing at the hospital.

The reduction in the number of beds will ease some of the pressures on staff but bosses admit a solution needs to be found as quickly as possible.

Women are now being encouraged to leave the hospital as soon as possible after they give birth to help create more space.

Others planning to have their babies at the Royal Sussex may be sent to other hospitals in Sussex if the unit is full.

The maternity wing is on the 11th, 12th and 13th floors of the hospital's tower block.

The antenatal unit is on the 11th floor and a 30-bed post-natal ward on the 12th.

Eight of the beds on the post-natal ward have been redesignated antenatal beds.

This means overall the number of antenatal beds has fallen by two and the number of post-natal beds by eight.

The hospital says it has ten midwife vacancies out of a staff of 100 and others are on long-term sick leave.

Staff at the unit are working under extreme pressure.

A recent Department of Health Birth Rate Plus report found that in an ideal world the unit would need an extra 27 midwives to cope with demand.

A hospital spokesman said: "There is a national shortage of midwives and the cost of living in this area is high.

"This combination means it is very difficult to recruit more staff although we are doing everything we can.

"The staff here are doing an excellent job in very difficult circumstances. We don't want to have to take action like this but we feel it is the best we can do in the circumstances and will help reduce the pressures."

The spokesman insisted mothers will be given full back-up from community midwives when they get home and only those who are fit to leave and agree to go will leave early.

If the unit becomes full then women about to give birth may have to go elsewhere.

The spokesman said: "It is far safer for a women to be taken to another unit that is not under so much pressure than to go into a unit that is already fully stretched.

"We don't like doing it but there are times when there is little choice."

Mrs Beech said members of Aims were reporting low staff morale at the unit as midwives felt they were not able to give all women the full attention they wanted to because they were so busy.

She wrote: "When a woman gives birth she needs to be in a place she feels safe and comfortable and she also needs the continuous support of a qualified midwife.

"Failure to provide good quality care can also have a devastating effect on women's post-natal health and the health of their babies, resulting in increased levels of post-natal depression and other complications.

"Aims believes that the prolonged crisis in midwifery staffing in your hospital requires radical action in order to protect the health and well-being of mothers and babies and to reduce the unacceptable stress imposed on those dedicated midwives who are struggling to maintain a safe service."

The maternity unit at the Royal Sussex is the largest in the county, dealing with about 3,000 births a year.