The funding was revealed by NHS managers in their far-reaching health plan for the next 12 months, which will cost at least £7.5 million.

A total of £1.75 million will be spent on the maternity departments at Northampton General Hospital and Kettering General Hospital.

Most of the money will be ploughed into hiring 21 midwives and seven support workers to ease stretched services and will allow women to choose where they give birth, which is a key Government priority.

The funding could also help reduce the rate of potentially more hazardous caesarean sections, which is particularly high in the county.

Elsewhere in the plan, more community support workers, similar to Macmillan Cancer Care nurses, will be sought to enable more people with terminal illnesses to die at home rather than in hospital.

The plan lays out details of broad schemes first addressed last year in NHS Northamptonshire's five-year plan.

John Parkes, the chief executive of NHS Northamptonshire, said: "It's important we can tell patients exactly where the money will be going and I think being able to say that we will have done 'x' by a particular time is also very important".

Board members yesterday approved the Local Operational Plan 2009/10, which contains schemes to improve the health of county people.

Other schemes include ensuring at least nine out of 10 of GP surgeries have dedicated registers of patients with cardiovascular disease, one of the UK's biggest killers.

Money will also be spent on reinforcing stop smoking services, particularly targeting expectant mothers.

Efforts to reduce the rate of teenage pregnancies will be boosted by £317,000, a portion of which will be spent on giving long-acting, reversible contraceptives.

Richard Alsop, the director of strategy and system management, who presented the plan to the board, said: "With many of these schemes, it's about stopping a health problem at source before it gets to the point where a lot more money needs to be spent further along the line."

The plan is the result of discussions with patients, GPs and the public about what Northamptonshire's health priorities should be.

The full document can be seen on the county's NHS website at www.northamptonshire.nhs.uk/PCT/index.htm