MORE than 5,000 babies have been born at a maternity unit, in its first year since opening.

Officially opened by the Queen in June of this year, the �16.5m Diamond Jubilee Maternity Unit at the Lister Hospital has seen 5,344 children born including 94 sets of twins.

Around 10 per cent of mothers chose to have a water birth and almost a third of the youngsters were born in the midwife-led unit.

Head of midwifery Christine Bell said: “It’s been an amazing year – the team are working well together, we have a fabulous new building and we’re having no problems attracting new midwives.

“We’ve also made some real financial savings thanks to being on one site.

“We’ve had some really positive feedback from mothers using our services from all over the region including east and south Hertfordshire.”