A CAMPAIGN to build a dedicated emergency route to Fairfield General Hospital has been launched by Bury Pensioners Association.

Chairman of the 100-strong association, Phil Kaiserman told the Bury Times that it was critical that there is another road leading to the complex to avoid the "horrendous conditions on Rochdale Old Road".

Bury Pensioners Association agreed to start a campaign demanding the alternative route following a meeting addressed by the chief officer of Bury Community Health Council (CHC), Mr Paul Reynolds.

The watchdog body has been calling for a new road from the Heap Bridge round-about to the hospital since the decision to merge Bury General and Fairfield was announced in the 1980s. The transfer of services to the Rochdale Road-based complex took place in autumn last year.

The CHC's concern that lives could be put at risk if a new route was not established were backed up in an independent report by TEP Network of Consultants. The report stated accident and emergency ambulances "may well be delayed in reaching the hospital". Mr Kaiserman, who lives in Radcliffe, said: "Every second counts when seriously ill patients are being transported to the accident and emergency department. And it is certain as night follows day that at some time an ambulance carrying your child, your parent, your loved one, will be delayed on the B622 (Rochdale Old Road), resulting in an avoidable death."

Bury Pensioners Association have called on every one to contact their local councillor urging the road be built and sign their petition.

Mr Kaiserman said: "We can't understand why this road has not been built. It will not cost the local health authority or the council a penny. It will be Government funded."

He added: "Unless this road is built, someone will die as a result. I wonder if our councillors will be able to sleep at night in the knowledge that their inaction has contributed to an innocent death. So we call on all concerned citizens to write, phone or e-mail their local councillors demanding that this matter be made a top priority."

Mr Reynolds welcomed the support of the Bury Pensioners Association.

He said: "Their backing is most welcome. Their views and those of the public are essential in establishing this relief road through public anger and public pressure."

Mr Reynolds said Bury Health Care NHS Trust is supporting the campaign.

"But the local authority does not seem to think a relief road is essential. However, the road is getting worse. The sting in the tail is that traffic is set to double in the next ten years and action needs to be taken now before there is a tragedy," he said.

A petition form can be obtained by calling 01706 368160 or 280 3162.