I HAVE read with interest the comments and letters concerning the proposed closure of the maternity facilities at Fairfield and feel qualified to comment having used them myself for my own four children.

My first three were born without any medical problems but when I fell pregnant with my son in 2008 I was diagnosed with a condition at 33 weeks called obstetric chloestasis.

This condition causes the mother’s bile acids to leak into the blood stream and, in effect, poisons the baby, leading to, in some cases, stillbirth.

The condition corrects itself after birth and is not dangerous for the mother.

The treatment consists of daily monitoring in hospital to the baby, listening to the heartbeat and obtaining a trace of movements and heartbeat to pick up any signals that the baby is not as it should be.

Blood tests need to be taken to measure acids in the blood every other day, again in hospital.

How hard would it have been to travel to a hospital out of town every day with three other children to look after?

How hard would it have been for my husband, who is self- employed, to continue to work?

I know this predicament would have made everything twice as bad, particularly as it was over Christmas and New Year.

Thankfully my baby was induced at 37 weeks and is now healthy and happy but it could have been very different.

Maternity hospitals don’t just deliver babies, they provide care to pregnant women and the care I received was excellent, local and reassuring to know it was on my doorstep.

Angela Greenwood Ribble Drive Bury