DOCTORS and midwives have expressed outrage at plans to close down Fairfield Hospital's maternity department, including its treasured special care baby unit.

Separate statements were read out to a packed audience of more than 200 people who gathered at Bury Town Hall on Tuesday night to show their "baby"battle is very much alive and kicking.

Midwives at Fairfield say the proposals WILL put lives at risk and some may quit the profession if the department is axed. Doctors said the decision to shut units at Bury and Rochdale made "no sense".

Dr Said Hany, chairman of Fairfield Baby Lifeline Society, said it was time for people to stand up again and show their support.

"I speak from the heart when I say I believe in this town and believe in this service. Our special care unit is one of the best in the UK and has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the UK,"he said.

Emotions ran high as stories of survival, thanks to the care received at the Rochdale Old Road hospital, dominated the public meeting held by campaign group Babies First.

They are spearheading the fight to save Bury's children's in-patient, neo-natal and maternity services from closure.

Under controversial proposals Making it Better, Fairfield Hospital will lose its maternity department and special care baby unit with mothers having to travel nine miles or more for the nearest hospital with a maternity unit.

Five options are currently undergoing formal public consultation and the agreed favoured option is to centralise maternity services at eight sites in North Manchester, Tameside, Wigan, Bolton, Oldham, Stockport, Wythenshawe and St Mary's hospitals.

NONE of the options propose keeping Fairfield Hospital's unit open and the huge shake-up will mean the majority of women in Bury will no longer have the choice of giving birth in their hometown unless they decide to have a home birth.

A midwife-led unit (MLU) with no 24-hour paediatric care could be developed only for mothers expecting healthy births with no foreseen complications - but no decision has been made if Bury will definitely get one.

Tuesday's meeting was organised by the Fairfield Baby Lifeline Society (FBLS) which was created 25 years ago to raise funds to help maintain the "state-of-the-art" special care baby unit currently under threat of closure.

A panel of five addressed the audience: chairman for the evening Vera Stringer, the acting chairman of the former Bury NHS Trust; Sarah Davies, a lecturer in midwivery at Salford University; Sharron Entwistle and Julie Noone, both members of the FBLS; and Dr Hany.

In attendance were members of the public from Bury, Heywood and Rossendale as well as Bury North MP David Chaytor, Bury councillors from each of the three main political parties, chief executive of Bury Primary Care Trust Evan Boucher, family doctors and midwives.

It was the second public meeting to be organised by the society who have been campaigning against the proposals since they were originally released in summer 2004.

In October 2004, more than 400 people crammed into the very same room for the official launch of the Babies First campaign. Following the success of the meeting, more than 4,000 supporters joined a protest march through Bury town centre and the plans were withdrawn within a week with health bosses admitting more work needed to be done.

The tone of Tuesday's meeting was quickly set with Mrs Stringer welcoming the audience and saying: "I cannot believe it is 17 months since I first welcomed people in this hall for the Babies First campaign. We were in this room to voice our objections to the first set of proposals from the Children and Young People's Network on the future of children and maternity service in Bury and we are here again tonight to voice our objections to the second set of proposals

"The proposals certainly do not make things better for the mothers and children of Bury. In our book, the people of Bury do not have a choice.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your opinion does matter and will matter. I think that we can all do it again and again and again until they understand that the voice of the people of Bury does count."

Trustee member Sharron Entwistle, who lives in Rossendale, made an emotionally-charged plea to keep the department open based on her own experiences of having her two youngest children cared for on the special care baby unit.

She said: "No-one expects to have a premature baby or a sick child but it is a fact of life that it happens so when it does you expect to have the best quality of care. Our children who were cared for on the special care unit are a living testament to the unit and the care of the staff. We must all pull together and fight for our local services before it is too late."

Mrs Stringer then read a statement on behalf of doctors from Bury and Rochdale explaining they had been advised not to speak publicly about the proposals. It said: "The closure of two well established special care baby units in Bury and Rochdale and opening a brand new unit at North Manchester does not make any sense to us. Bury and Rochdale should have a single paediatric unit providing excellent care. We will support unanimously such a unit and join hand in hand with the people of Bury and Rochdale."

A statement was also read on behalf of the midwives at Fairfield who described the proposals as "deeply flawed".

It said: "We have serious concerns that the proposed reconfiguration will put lives at risk due to further travelling. We have not been asked for our opinion. Patient choice will be reduced and the overall aim of reconfiguration to improve quality of services can not be achieved in Bury if the proposals go ahead."

Sarah Davies, who has 25 years' experience working and teaching in midwivery, vocalised the concerns of midwives warning many will leave if the proposals get the green light.

"I strongly believe women should be able to choose where to give birth and should be supported in those choices. There is nothing in the document to suggest women of Bury will benefit from proposed changes. I believe there will be extra risk for women in childbirth and their choices are reduced rather than increased.

"Midwives are going to leave and retire early and experienced midwives are desperately needed to support the newly qualified midwives. Midwives have had enough of change for changes sake. The reason local units are closing is because there is not enough staff rather than assuming it will be better in larger units, they should look at the shortage of midwives."

Dr Hany brought the audience to its feet as he asked them to stand to show their support. He said: "About two years ago we took up the Babies First campaign. It was successful for one reason - because of the people who stood up and supported it. We find it disgraceful we are having to call you again to stand up and support the unit."

Concerns raised by the audience included how the proposals would affect the people of Rossendale and Heywood who would have even further to travel, especially in rush-hour traffic, and how the changes would affect Fairfield's future in general.

Many parents, some born prematurely themselves, stood up to share their own experiences. One of the most heartfelt pleas came from father David Oversby, from Ramsbottom, who described how staff at Fairfield saved the life of wife Joanne when pains in her side initially thought to be contractions was actually a ruptured liver. She had an emergency birth to daughter Olivia and was in a two-week coma.

Tearful David explained: "I was driving 95 miles an hour down Walmersley Road trying to get to hospital - if we had to get to North Manchester neither my wife or baby would be here.

"Fairfield looked after our baby for two weeks until my wife came out of a coma and some poor bloke in the north of Bury could soon be standing in the same position I am minus wife and daughter."

MP David Chaytor reiterated his promise to back the campaign and agreed with the doctors' statement for Bury and Rochdale to join forces to provide maternity services.

He said: "We should have a specialist maternity unit at Fairfield and one at Oldham serving the people of Greater Manchester. This must be the argument we make this year.

"Before April 13 we must encourage as many people as humanly possible to fill in the response form. I look forward to working closely with the three leaders of Bury Council, the PCT and Fairfield Baby Lifeline Society to make the strongest case possible to keep maternity services as possible."

The two-hour meeting was concluded with the announcement of a second protest march planned for next month with the date yet to be finalised.

Mrs Stringer said: "We promise that we will not give up the fight but neither should you. Put your views in writing to your MP and councillors. We need more than the 4,000 plus at last year's march and I hope you will join us to let them know they cannot do this without protest."

More information on Making it Better, including the full consultation documents and response form, can be found at www.bestforhealth.nhs.uk or by calling 0800 587 2901.