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‘Fresh look’ at decision to cut maternity units

15/ 3/2007

THE chair of an independent panel reviewing the decision to cut Salford's maternity services promised to take a fresh, unbiased look at the proposals as he visited Hope Hospital to see the staff in action.

Dr Peter Barrett is leading the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) which has been asked by Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt to review the controversial Making It Better proposals.

The plans would see the closure of Hope's maternity and neonatal intensive care units - effectively marking the end of the Salfordian as women would be forced to travel to hospitals outside the city to give birth.

The IRP started the review process this week and Dr Barrett visited Hope with two other panel members to see the services for themselves.

Dr Barrett, a GP for more than 30 years, said: "The full panel is splitting up and visiting the various hospitals over the next few weeks. I visited Wigan, Bolton and Salford on Monday and was very impressed with the dedication of staff in all the hospitals. It is clear there is a lot of emotion around the proposals and that's perfectly understandable but our job is to focus on the issues of safety, sustainability and accessibility of each site."

He added: "At Salford I thought the staff were very dedicated but it is far too early to come to any conclusions as this is just the first week of the review and I'd be very worried if we had any preconceived ideas. We're genuinely going to take a fresh look. We're not bound by any of the proposals."

The report from the panel will be submitted to the Health Secretary by June 26 and she will then make the final decision. With past reviews she has always accepted the findings of the panel.

Members of the public will have the chance to speak to panel members at a series of meetings still to be scheduled.

Dr Barrett added: "Those who feel they've got things to add or if they want to tell us something they've already said but feel their voice hasn't been heard - we'll be very happy to meet them."

To register an interest in meeting panel members contact: irp@northwest.nhs.uk or telephone: 0161 237 2901.