Mothers and others used Twitter to question some of the doctors behind a proposal which could see a maternity unit shut somewhere in south-west London.

Reducing the number of maternity units from four to three so there are enough consultants on the wards is the front-running idea to emerge from the Better Services Better Value review.

Dr Jane Wilson, Kingston Hospital’s medical director and co-chair of the maternity review team, was one of a trio answering questions via Twitter on Friday, December 9.

Asked if three units could deliver as many babies as four, Kingston’s medical director, Dr Wilson said: “We will need at least as much capacity & beds as we currently have, if not more. We want more midwife-led births.”

Leah Williams tweeted: “I’d love midwife-led birth but shorter distance would matter more. So that would be one fewer midwife birth.”

Volumiser_afc said: “We delivered @ st heliers. We went there b/c George's/Kingston were full. This happens all the time. We need 4 units.”

And Wimbledon and Wandsworth National Childbirth Trust said: “Making women travel further during labour would be cruel. Especially (but not only) for people with no car (like me).”

But Anna Dellaway, head of midwifery at Kingston Hospital, said: “All evidence we've seen suggests it's quality of staff not size of unit that makes a difference.”

So far 262 people have completed an online survey to give their views on the proposals which could see either Kingston, Epsom and St Helier, St George’s or Croydon close its maternity unit.

The review is still accepting feedback on its proposals which include reducing the number of A+Es before moving to a formal consultation next year.