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No more babies to be born at hospital

11:00am Wednesday 27th July 2011 in News

THERE will be no more babies born at Fairfield Hospital in Bury after March next year.

Health chiefs yesterday pulled the plug on a midwife-led unit which would have allowed some births at the hospital.

Mums will now have no choice but to go outside the town, unless it is a home birth. Fairfield will lose its maternity and special care baby unit next March as part of a multi-million re-organisation of Greater Manchester’s women’s, children’s and neonatal services.

Health bosses had initially agreed to look at providing a standalone midwife-led unit, but yesterday afternoon, NHS Bury, the town’s primary care trust, decided it would not go ahead.

Campaigners who battled against the closure had mixed views on the decision, with some continuing the fight to keep the maternity unit open and others focusing on getting the best from the “Making it Better” scheme.

The possibility of a standalone midwife-led unit, allowing low-risk births at Fairfield, was first mooted more than five years ago.

NHS Bury carried out a feasibility study and a report to yesterday’s locality board recommended against it.

It cited issues such as low demand, lack of need and cost. Most parents and clinicians consulted also disagreed with the idea of a midwife-led unit.

Members agreed with the findings and approved the decision. It will now go to NHS Greater Manchester’s board meeting in September for final ratification.

Paul Horrocks, managing director of NHS Bury, said: “I agree with the feasibility study that it is not viable. Within seven and half miles, there will be four points of access for the people of Bury.”

The nearest units for pregnant women from the borough will be Royal Bolton Hospital, North Manchester General Hospital, or Rossendale or Salford Birth units — one of which, according to NHS Bury, will be accessible to all Bury residents within the recommended 30-minutes’ travel time.

The Royal College of Midwives wanted a midwife-led unit to support the “Making it Better” changes.

Lesley Gaskell, RCM regional officer covering the North West, said: “We are extremely disappointed at this decision. It is reducing women’s choice to have their babies in Bury.”

Fairfield Baby Lifeline Society says it agrees a midwife-led unit is not the right option, wanting to see existing services stay open.

Leading campaigner Sharron Entwistle said: “We don’t believe a midwife-led unit would be safe. What if there are any complications or a woman goes there in pre-term labour? And there isn’t the demand.

“We have always said we want full services retained in Bury, otherwise there will be a huge void and mums and babies will suffer.

“I don’t know if there is anything more we can do to try and reverse the decision but we are certainly still trying. It’s not over until they remove the services.”

Campaigners are currently trying to arrange meetings with Bury North MP David Nuttall and Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley.

Comments(7)

FISHPOOL RESIDENT says...
12:57pm Thu 21 Jul 11

So much for David Nuttalls pre election pledges.

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Eileenshakers says...
8:44pm Thu 21 Jul 11

What an absolute disgrace this is to leave people with no other choice than to use other authorities facilities at child birth.Hold your head in shame Bury nhs trust.So does that mean that we will lose generations of new folk born out of the town.

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pablozabaleta says...
4:19pm Fri 22 Jul 11

I think this shows very clearly two big problems with the NHS. First, lack of democratic accountability, and second that people don’t know much about how the NHS actually works.

David Nuttall promised to keep Fairfield Maternity open, as did the Labour candidate. Only the Lib Dem candidate told the truth, which is that no matter what local people want the decisions are made by unelected NHS Trusts. Obviously that went down like a lead balloon, but then telling the truth and successful MPs don’t often go hand in hand.

It’s not “Bury NHS Trust” (which doesn’t exits) that’s making the decision but Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in conjunction with NHS Bury (aka Bury PCT) and various other PCTs and Hospitals Trust as part of a wider re-organisation.

Local MPs and Councillors (therefore local people) don’t have a say at the ballot box. Any MP claiming that they can stop NHS changes from happening is a liar. The MP can try, sure, but they can’t force anything to happen like, say, a Council Leader can.

On the other hand, it is a bit dramatic to say that we will “lose generations of new folk” because there’s no maternity unit in Bury. People from Bury will leave their home in Bury, go to Bolton (or wherever) to give birth, and then go home to Bury again. They don’t need to leave the baby at the border.

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Megawatt says...
9:30pm Fri 22 Jul 11

Something needs to be done.
MP's, Councillors & now NHS workers who are all our servants are not doing as we tell them.
WE ARE their bosses & employers and it is about time they started doing as they are told.
Bury has to have a maternity unit. We do not want to go to our little neighbours, Rochdale, Oldham, Bolton, Burnley & Blackburn. All hospital facilities should be in BIG Bury.

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aussieinbury says...
8:15pm Sun 24 Jul 11

Not everyone has their babies and goes home. I had my baby in Fairfield in 2009. At 27 weeks gestation. If my son had been born at Bolton or NMGH I have no idea how I would have coped. My son was in hospital for almost 11 weeks, I was in for one. That's a heck of a lot of travel (at the time I lived in Stubbins) every single day post c section without a car.

No thought has been given to those people, like me, who have complicated situations like this, with one in nine babies born prematurely its a real concern.

And what sticks in my throat is that during this process I wrote to the PCT, the local NHS body and Andrew Lansley with my concerns and got very poor form letters back. It isn't good enough.

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Dei Gratia says...
7:33am Mon 25 Jul 11

When I give my place of birth, I always write "Epsom, Surrey". My children write "Bury, Lancashire". What will my grandchildren write? The place they were born will not be the town where their family live. None of the hospitals proposed as an alternative are easily accessible from Bury, nor does any hospital have proper parking facilities right when you need them.

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Jan B says...
11:48am Thu 4 Aug 11

Its a disgrace that this hospital is being closed down bit by bit! They wont be happy until its doors are closed permanatly. Nobody appears to care that patients will now have to travel miles out of their way to give birth or that sometimes its just not feasable for their partners and relatives to find the cost to visit their relatives in hospital elsewhere because the way the cost of fuel is going up its not going to be a cheap option.
Election promises went out the window once the MP`s were elected, they got what they wanted to be elected and are now so busy propping up parliament they are neglecting what is happening under their noses in their own Towns. We need to fight this closure to ensure that babies are born in Bury for a long time to come.

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