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Threat to baby units shake-up

11/ 1/2006

A COUNCIL is threatening to take legal action over plans to shake up children's medical services in Greater Manchester.

Salford City Council fears maternity services in the city could be scrapped and may apply for a judicial review.

The region-wide public consultation by Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority is expected to go ahead as planned tomorrow.

But if the council does successfully apply for a judicial review, consultation could become pointless - a judge would have to decide if the process was flawed before any decisions or actions are taken.

The consultation, "Making It Better", is designed to streamline maternity, neo natal, and paediatric services from 14 to a maximum of eight sites.

Favoured

The authority's favoured option is to create three sites - St Mary's in Manchester, Royal Oldham Hospital, and Royal Bolton Hospital - with a full range of specialist services, including intensive care baby units.

Salford council is threatening legal action because it believes the process used to choose a favoured option could be flawed.

Privately, senior managers at Hope Hospital, in Salford, believe the hospital has been unfairly penalised because the maternity unit and paediatric units are not on the same site. But managers point out they do have a neonatal intensive care unit.

Besides the three preferred sites, North Manchester, Stepping Hill, Tameside, Wythenshawe, and Wigan would also provide in-patient maternity and children's services. Other hospitals could opt for midwife-led maternity centres.

However, people can voice support for the maternity and baby intensive care facilities at Hope Hospital and the maternity and children's services at Macclesfield General - which are included under other options.

Bury, Trafford and Rochdale hospitals are all set to lose their children's in-patient services, maternity and neo-natal wards.

And if health bosses do push ahead with their preferred model, it would mean Hope Hospital's maternity unit, where 2,700 babies were delivered last year, would close. The 12-bed special care baby unit and nine-bed neonatal intensive care unit would also shut.

The neonatal intensive care unit is one of only three in the north west and serves Lancashire and Cumbria as well Greater Manchester.

Council bosses claim the plans, if implemented, could have a knock-on effect on other services at Hope including a day case surgery for children and gynaecological services for women. They have launched a campaign to save Hope's existing services.

The leader of Salford Council, John Merry, said: "Hope currently provides excellent services in this field and clearly any plan to revise services in Greater Manchester needs to take account of this.

"We need evidence that a full study has been carried out on patient flows, capital and revenue costs, and on transport needs for the services recommended by the authority.

"The danger is that if these changes go ahead, there will be irreparable damage done to one of the region's premier teaching hospitals. We fear that if these services go, then others will follow.

Serious

"We have serious concerns about the way a decision was made to make this preferred option and we are not ruling out the possibility of applying for a judicial review."

"We want local people to help us put the case for our hospital, and tell them: `Hands off Hope'."

Neil Goodwin, Chief Executive of Greater Manchester strategic health authority, said: "I am very surprised to hear this. I believe that all the issues of apparent concern have been fully addressed and I am confident that due process has been maintained at all times.

"Any suggestion that Hope Hospital will be "irreparably damaged" by the Making it Better proposals is simply not true. A major redevelopment scheme is planned for the hospital together with the siting of a new £25million cancer centre supporting the work of the Christie Hospital."

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