TODAY is the deadline for the public to give their views on the two sets of proposals aiming to transform Bury's health and maternity services.

The formal public consultation periods for both Healthy Futures and Making it Better will finally come to an end.

The original 12-week consultation period was extended to 16 weeks following the huge response from the public, in particular the Making it Better team who have been receiving around 1,000 responses per day, along with several petitions containing more than 50,000 signatures The Making it Better proposals have created a big stir among Bury residents putting Fairfield Hospital's maternity department, including its special care baby unit, under threat of closure as health chiefs aim to tackle staff shortages and specialise skills.

If the proposals get the stamp of approval later this summer, mothers will no longer have the choice of a hospital birth in Bury and will be forced to travel to North Manchester and beyond.

Last week, as reported in the Bury Times, Bury Primary Care Trust (PCT), GPs and hospital consultants at Fairfield issued their formal responses to the Making it Better proposals stating none of the options were acceptable and agreed a single hospital on the north side of the M60 serving the people of Bury, Rochdale and Rossendale should be considered.

On Tuesday, the Pennine Acute NHS Hospitals Trust board formally approved its response to Making it Better and reiterated the need for an additional option to include Bury keeping its services.

In a letter addressed to the Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority, trust chairman John Jesky stated: "The trust fully supports the need for change in this vital set of services.

"The trust also supports the view that no more than eight units over the review area can be supported.

"We recognise that this is a difficult and sensitive issue. However, there is a view that a case can be made on the grounds of access for consideration of a north-south split which would see Oldham and Fairfield retaining services as an additional option. We feel that if this option had been included this would have enhanced the debate around the merits, or otherwise, of both the preferred option and the alternatives to that."

Bury PCT, along with PCTs in North Manchester, Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton and Oldham, have teamed up with the Pennine trust to work on providing better health services in the north east of Greater Manchester.

Under Healthy Futures, more hospital services would be brought into the community with the development of new "one-stop-health-shops" and a variety of services available under one roof. The proposals also include three options surrounding Fairfield the preferred one to have Fairfield, North Manchester and Royal Oldham hospitals providing acute medical and A&E services with Rochdale Infirmary becoming one of the country's first locality hospitals.

Fairfield would lose its acute surgery with services transferred to North Manchester and Royal Oldham.

Due to its response to Making it Better, Bury PCT has rejected this preferred option in favour of Option 2 which would see Fairfield and the Royal Oldham Hospital providing acute medicine and A&E services and North Manchester and Rochdale Infirmary becoming locality hospitals.

This option would need investment at Fairfield and is not compatible with the preferred option of Making it Better.

Hilda Harvey, chairman of Bury PCT, said: "The PCT has an obligation in its own right to make an informed judgement on the proposed changes.

"The concepts behind Healthy Futures are fully in keeping with the PCT's vision of the future of the health service in bringing more appropriate care closer to home for more people."

To make your views known, visit www.bestforhealth.nhs.uk or call 0800 587 2901 for Making it Better and 0161 655 1449 for Healthy Futures.