JUNIOR Health Minister Dan Poulter visited Hillingdon Hospital today to see how money had been spent improving ten of the labour wards.

Improvements which include general decoration, air conditioning, music systems, TVs and a new birthing pool, designed to make mothers stay more comfortable.

Dr Poulter said: “The maternity team here are doing a fantastic job day in, day out and night in, night out, like so many other midwives around the country.

“The problem is the facilities are often old, and part of my job has been to secure funding so places like Hillingdon can benefit from an improved working environment.”

An average of 12 babies a day are born in the maternity unit, which helps deliver around 4,000 a year.

The unit is expecting to accommodate an extra 2,000 births by 2018.

Shane DeGaris, chief executive of Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, added: “People don’t realise how much money is spent on maintenance work around the hospital, so it’s always nice to secure money to carry out improvement works.”

She said the hospital was looking forward to the opening of a new acute medical unit this year.