CLAIMS that Fairfield Hospital’s A&E department could face closure have been slammed by health bosses.

Research carried out by a national newspaper group stated that the A&E department faces closure or being downgraded.

Sir David Dalton, chief executive of The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, has hit out at the rumours claiming they are completely false.

In a joint statement Sir David and Stuart North, chief officer at NHS Bury CCG, said: “Recent rumours of changing the status of the A&E Department at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury are false.

“There are no plans to downgrade the service. It will continue to provide its local emergency department service 24/7, seven days a week.

“Fairfield will continue its essential role as part of the larger network of urgent care systems across Greater Manchester.

“The key to the future success of the Pennine Acute Trust is having clear and distinct plans for each of our hospital sites at Bury, Rochdale, Oldham and North Manchester.

“With specific reference to Fairfield General, our plans are to build on our clinical services, including the specialist Stroke Centre, for which an onsite Emergency Department is essential.”

Instead, Sir David says the hospital will benefit from part of a £20.5m investment into frontline services to support Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

The money will be used to pay for more than 300 nursing and midwifery staff over the next three years, 35 more doctors, 35 more Allied Health Professionals, including clinical therapists, new medical equipment.

One million will also be invested in new IT and information systems, and £2.5m of investment in developing hospital site-based operational infrastructures.

Sir David announced the plans, which is part of an overall £30m investment, last week.

He confirmed that £20.5m of the new money had been secured for 2017/18 to be used to support frontline staff at its four hospitals at Oldham, Bury, Rochdale and North Manchester.

He said: “This is a significant amount of money that is part of a financial commitment to support the trust’s improvement journey. This funding recognises all of the hard work, changes and improvements that have been delivered by our staff at all levels over the last few months.

“As part of our improvement work, we have listened to our nursing staff who have told us that we need to increase our nursing and midwifery staffing levels on our wards to ensure staff are supported and that patients are getting the very best care they need.

“I have accepted their recommendations and so £10m has been set aside to recruit over 300 more nursing and midwifery staff over the next few years across all of our hospital sites.”

In addition to the £20.5m, the trust has also secured £10m for essential capital investment in the estates and facilities at the North Manchester General Hospital and The Royal Oldham sites.

Both sites have been allocated £5m each. The £5m for the North Manchester site is on top of the £5m that is being spent on the construction of a new 24-bed intermediate care unit at the moment.

Sir David added: “The aim is to ensure that the hospital remains a key asset for the local community that will provide services that best meets the healthcare needs of local people. We know this hospital has old and disused buildings which will require further substantial capital investment so that it is fit for purpose in the future.”

In August last year, the Pennine Acute Trust announced that it had secured £9.2m from its local Clinical Commissioning Groups to put in place immediate and short term measures to ensure services were safe and reliable.

Much of the money has been spent on strengthening medical and nurse staffing in pressured services, such as maternity, paediatrics and urgent care, and investment in the trust’s new Nursing Assessment and Accreditation System for its hospital wards.

The new investment has been secured with support of the trust’s local healthcare commissioners in Bury, Oldham, North Manchester, Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, and also with NHS England, NHS Improvement and the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership.