I REFER to the report (The Bolton News, September 4,) on the ‘Healthier Together’ debate held in Bolton on September 2.

The meeting was advertised as lasting from 6.30pm to 8pm. The directions map supplied by the organisers meant that many of the audience went first to the Eagle/Chancellor building at University of Bolton before being redirected to the main building.

The meeting did not start until 7pm.

No explanation or apology was offered for this, but we were told that the meeting would still finish at 8pm despite the late start. Questions did not begin till 7.15pm.

This halved the advertised time allocated for questions. One questioner commented on the lack of substance to the questions posed in the consultation document. I agree.

There is a serious shortage of detail on the proposed changes. If we are not told exactly which medical and surgical specialties are under discussion and where existing centres of expertise are currently sited, how can we answer the consultation questions in any considered way?

We were told more than once at the debate that we are not being asked to vote for our preferred combination of specialist and general hospitals: we are being asked for our responses to the consultation questions.

Without proper information on what the current services are and also where they might be located in the future, I suspect that many of the consultation responses will be from people simply choosing (voting) to have their own local hospital designated as a specialist hospital.

This compulsory consultation exercise is reported to be costing £1.7m. I accept that we cannot afford to continue to run Greater Manchester's health services without a reorganisation of some services.

However, I am concerned that the questionnaire responses will not provide the organisers with truly useful information.

The meeting did not give me a good impression of how this consultation is being handled. I hope that other consultation events will be better managed.

Margaret Gilmour Sutherland Road Bolton