HEALTH chiefs have been urged not to shut a hospital's maternity department.

Managers of the Friarage in Northallerton admit one of four options being considered is to close the maternity unit at the hospital.

Options for the future of the service are being investigated amid concern about the implications of new limits on the working hours of doctors and predicted future problems of recruiting consultants.

Despite 1,300 babies being delivered at the hospital every year, the facility is said to be more at risk than others because of its comparatively small size.

At a recent county council health scrutiny committee meeting, health chiefs were urged to do all they could to keep the maternity unit open.

Richmondshire district councillor Yvonne Peacock said: "It would be a very bad thing if we were to lose our maternity services."

Jill Moulton, director of planning for South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust, said there was no plan to shut the department. "We don't see that the service is in immediate crisis, but there are operational difficulties that mean we have to think very carefully how we put together a service that people can rely on."

The NHS trust will publish a report outlining its five-year plan for the hospital, including the future of the maternity unit, in June.