Bradford women can find out the sex of their baby for the first time - thanks to a change in policy at the city's maternity unit.

At the Bradford Royal Infirm-ary, women having ante-natal screening have never been told whether they are expecting a boy or a girl - until now.

The unit has agreed to release the information after listening to feedback from patients.

Parents-to-be can now learn the sex of their unborn baby when the foetus is 20 weeks old, when routine scans are carried out.

The change will bring BRI into line with neighbouring hospitals such as the Leeds General Infir-mary and Airedale General Hospital at Steeton.

A spokesman for the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the BRI and St Luke's, said the change had come about through consultation with a user forum made up of doctors, midwives and local women. "It was something this group wanted introducing as a priority," he said.

Before making the change radiologists at the hospital - who carry out the ultrasound scans - were asked to spend a year assessing how accurate their predictions were.

They found that they were able to correctly identify the baby's sex through using the ultrasound technology between 90 per cent and 95 per cent of the time.

He said the reason the service had not been offered before was because of fears over accuracy and the risk of litigation where parents were given wrong information.

Derek Tuffnell, consultant obstetrician at BRI, said some women desperate to know the sex of their baby had booked in to a neighbouring hospital for scanning then rebooked with BRI, creating extra work for health professionals. He warned that the scans were not fail safe and one in 20 couples would be told wrongly - equating to 300 per year at the BRI.