Work has begun on a £1.5m birth unit at Dewsbury District Hospital.
Hospital bosses joined Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox for a ceremony to mark the start of building.
The midwife-led centre, where ‘low-risk’ births will take place, is part of the shake-up of hospital services.
More complex cases will be transferred to a consultant-led ward at Wakefield Pinderfields Hospital.
The new unit includes six birthing rooms – two with birthing pools.
The facility is expected to be completed in summer.
Gill Pownall, Head of Nursing and Midwifery, said: “This is an exciting time for maternity services at Mid Yorkshire; we are working closely with the local community and midwives to create a calm, peaceful, safe environment for women to birth their babies.
“We are thrilled that the long awaited countdown has begun.”
MP Jo Cox, however, expressed concern about how women in labour and the mother of premature babies would have to be rushed to Wakefield by ambulance.
From summer 2016, all three of the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals at Dewsbury, Pontefract and Pinderfields will have a dedicated birth centre.
Pinderfields Hospital will have a consultant led service for women across the district who need specialist care.
Community midwives will still offer the choice of a home birth and will still provide routine antenatal care in local GP practices, clinics or at the nearest hospital.
