Sir, As the mother of two small children who were born at Helme Chase Maternity Unit, Kendal, I am horrified that there are proposals to change the way it operates and possibly to reduce the number of births that take place there.

I feel that Helme Chase is the gold standard to which other maternity units should aspire.

The support and understanding that is available in the unit to new mothers is invaluable.

The first few days of motherhood are exciting but also daunting.

In today's society, many women do not have their extended family nearby and without the support of midwives would find the whole business of learning to breastfeed and care for their new baby overwhelming.

I am sure that help in the early post-natal period is vital in establishing successful breastfeeding and preventing depression.

I am convinced that without the help of the midwives at Helme Chase, I would have given up breastfeeding soon after my children were born as I had great problems in getting them both to 'latch on' correctly.

It is, of course, impossible to quantify the health benefits of breastfeeding but there must be some saving to the health authority if a high proportion of mothers do manage to breastfeed and the set-up at Helme Chase offers the best environment to achieve this.

I also feel it is vital that maternity units are available locally.

Visits from partners and children are vital to the new mother's morale and obviously these are made easier if units are close by.

Also, the thought of having to travel long distances while in labour or even worse, giving birth in transit without any trained help, is too awful to contemplate.

In short, Helme Chase Maternity Unit provides an invaluable service to this community.

It is a shame that such facilities are not available throughout the country and I feel extremely privileged to have given birth there.

I would urge the health authority to keep the unit open and ensure that as many women as possible, including those that require caesareans, benefit from its facilities.

Judith M.Galbraith

Endmoor