"Maternity Decision - A cruel joke" says Rochdale Lib Dems!

12.00.00am GMT Tue 12th Dec 2006

Campaigners led by Councillor Jean Ashworth and Paul Rowen MP deliver the petititon to 10, Downing Street

PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION LEFT: Paul Rowen MP has slammed Consultation Bosses after they made the decision to shut Maternity and Child Care Services at Rochdale Infirmary.

Paul said, "The sole reason they refused Rochdale's case was because the Pennine Acute Trust said, "£40 million was needed to provide additional services in Rochdale", I believe these figures have been plucked from the sky! That £40 Million would be for an extra 1000 births a year, the equivalent of 3 a day. If you assume that every new mother stays in for 3 days, this means that they would have to provide an extra 10 beds - that is £4 Million per bed. This is nonsense and I have asked of a detailed breakdown of how they have arrived at that figure. Phase 1 of the Infirmary cost £25 Million so how on earth they arrived at this figure is beyond me.

"This is a kick in the teeth for the north of Greater Manchester and I will be asking the Health Scrutiny Committee to ask the Secretary of State for Health to review this decision. This means that there will be no Childcare, Maternity and Paediatrics in Bury or Rochdale.

"The campaign has been a hard fought one and I am sorry for people like Father Nearey, Carole Ashworth-Lord, Councillor Jean Ashworth and many, many other people who have fought so hard for our Town. We feel let down; I have always said that the title of the Consultation - 'Making it Better' is just a cruel joke. Just like their decision to close down our A and E we will not accept this. I hope to meet campaigners as soon as possible to plan the next stage of the campaign. The decision to 'consider' options that would have meant retaining services at the Infirmary was just a sop that gave us false hope!"

Health Campaigner - Councillor Jean Ashworth said, "This is unbelievable - we went to the meeting with optimism and left with nothing but disgust. This leaves the Infirmary with an uncertain future - the midwives and staff will be heartbroken. I don't know what is going to happen next, something needs to be done about Consultation Bosses failure to listen. I never want to hear the word 'consultation' again. I thought it meant listening - but how wrong can you be. This is a disaster for the Town but we won't take this lying down."

Veteran Rochdale Campaigner and former MP - Sir Cyril Smith MBE said, "This is an utter disgrace, the voice of the people has been cruelly ignored by Health Bosses hell-bent on destroying the health care that we have built up and fought for many decades for."

Councillor Alan Taylor said, "This has been an expensive sham from the start and I am devasted for campaigners. If Health Bosses have their way - Born and Bred in Rochdale will be a thing of the past. It is quite obvious that we have not been listened to. Consultation Bosses have spent hundreds of thousands to hire spin doctors, but they cannot package this in any other way that Rochdale Infirmary will never be the same again. They will try and tell us that these damaging proposals are a step forward - I say they don't understand the feeling on the ground. It's ironic that this cost cutting exercise has cost so much and the people of Rochdale feel short changed and let down."

The Committee were split but voted by 7 to 4 for Option 1 that will see maternity services being based in North Manchester, Bolton, Oldham, Central Manchester, Stepping Hill, Wythenshawe, Tameside and Wigan.