The first umbilical cord collection centres outside of London are to open in Leicester.

From September, women who have given birth at the city's hospitals will have the opportunity to donate blood cells from their baby's umbilical cord.

The cells will allow life-saving transplants for patients with leukaemia and serious blood disorders.

The announcement, by the Anthony Nolan Trust and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, was welcomed by Amy Winston-Hart, whose daughter Eva was saved by cord cells from America.

Amy, of Market Harborough, has been campaigning for a national cord blood bank to help leukaemia sufferers.

She said: "It is fantastic news and I am so glad Leicester is the first in what I hope becomes a nationwide collection system.

"Eva was saved by an egg cup-full of cord blood.

"In this country, we burn 67,000 litres of cord blood each year."

Eva was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2006 and was initially treated in Leicester.

She had the life-saving procedure three years ago and now is a healthy six-year-old.

Amy said: "The cord blood cells were Eva's only hope as extensive searches for compatible bone marrow donors were unsuccessful."

Anthony Nolan Cord Collection Centres will open at Leicester Royal Infirmary and the city's General Hospital in the autumn.

Mothers will be asked if they want to donate their baby's umbilical cord.

The cord will be collected after the baby has been delivered and consent will be arranged in advance to avoid confusion or stress during labour.

It will then be taken to the Anthony Nolan Cell Therapy Centre, in Nottingham, where it will be tested and stored in a dedicated facility, ready for a patient needing a transplant.

Guy Parkes, of the Anthony Nolan Trust, said: "The blood in the cord and placenta is rich in stem cells, which can be used for transplant as an alternative to a bone marrow transplant."

He said cord blood was increasingly requested by transplant doctors as it had advantages for some patients, particularly children.

Mr Parkes said the charity hoped that by collecting cord blood, the group could address the shortage of donors from ethnic minorities on the adult bone marrow register.

Jane Porter, head of nursing and midwifery at the hospitals trust said: "With more than 10,000 births a year at Leicester General Hospital and Leicester Royal Infirmary, our medical expertise and our rich ethnic diversity, we are ideally placed to work with Anthony Nolan to develop its pioneering cord blood programme.

"We hope that cord blood collected in Leicester will help save more lives."

The UK collects and stores a tiny quantity of cord blood in comparison with other countries.

The total is nowhere near enough to meet the number of people who desperately need stem cell transplants, the charity said.

At present, Anthony Nolan said two people missed out on the chance of a transplant every day.