HAVING had three of my children delivered in Fairfield, I found Saiqa Chaudhari's excellent report (July 15) on the proposed demise of the special care baby unit to be of great interest.

Surely the decision to close the unit has effectively already been made. If it hadn't, the "consultation" process would not be taking place during the summer holidays, a ploy which has been used regularly enough by others to be utterly transparent.

Hidden within the report, however, were serious issues concerning the future of the maternity unit at Fairfield. This appears to be an ill-thought out plan to reduce maternity services at Fairfield to a daytime-only midwife-led unit.

In practice, this means any mother giving birth outside daytime hours would be transferred to another hospital. Women who are not considered appropriate for a midwife-led delivery would automatically be sent to other hospitals. Those who developed complications during pregnancy, or before, during or after birth, would be (stressfully) transferred to other hospitals, which may themselves not have the capacity to deal with Bury's additional cases. Pity those families without transport.

There are some outstanding questions which, in the interests of proper "consultation", require answers:

a. What percentage of expectant mothers entering Fairfield are ordinarily considered appropriate for a midwifery-led unit? How many require consultant-led care?

b. How many of these mothers complete their labour, delivery and post-natal care (including establishing breastfeeding) during daytime hours?

c. Given the potential increase in home births if a daytime-only midwifery-led service is introduced, what are the implications and what is the cost of training GPs in obstetrics and ensuring that all community midwives feel competent and experienced enough to safely carry out home deliveries?

d. What criteria is being used to assess whether daytime-only midwifery-led care is actually a safer option for women? What is the research-based evidence? May we be directed to these information sources?

e. What financial savings will be made by closing the SCBU and current maternity unit?

f. How do members of the public access full copies of the proposals/report so that any "consultation" can be informed?

Only one thing is certain -- the status quo is not an option. Bury's mothers should be up in arms about these new proposals. Local councillors and MPs should be joining the fight on behalf of the people of Bury. People need to stand up and be counted, to demand a 24-hour midwifery-led service at Fairfield, for if not, there is a very real threat that local women could be left with no local maternity service provision at all.

DAWN ROBINSON-WALSH