MATERNITY services at Basingstoke hospital are now 'fully operational'.

After reports of a fire in the neonatal unit, firefighters were called out at 9.25pm on Monday night, but the incident turned out to be a false alarm caused by smoke or steam coming from a overheated pump.

No babies were harmed in the incident and were safely transferred to elsewhere in the hospital.

While investigations and repair work were carried out, maternity services at the hospital were initially suspended before they began to return to normality earlier today.

And now, the services are fully operational.

Alex Whitfield, chief executive of Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, Royal Hampshire County Hospital, in Winchester, and Andover War Memorial Hospital, said: “I am pleased to say that maternity services at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital are now fully operational again.

“The maintenance issues that led to the temporary relocation of the neonatal unit have been resolved and we are in the process of carrying out final checks on the area. If these are satisfactory, we expect to be able to restore the unit to its normal location tomorrow morning.

“We have been able to reopen our maternity services due to increased capacity as some of the babies who were being treated by our neonatal staff have now been able to go home.

“We apologise for the inconvenience and concern this situation has caused, both for women using our maternity services and the families of babies on the neonatal unit, but thanks to the tremendous efforts of our staff, we have continued to provide the same service and the same level of care throughout.”