This is disgusting!! I am a student midwife at Rochdale and I couldnt think of anywhere else I would like to work. Do these people not listen to the women who will be using these services? These are mums and babies lives that are being messed with! Why alter something that works perfectly well as it is?

I THINK THIS IS AN OUTRAGE HOW MANY CHILDREN AND BABIES ARE GOING TO DIE FROM THIS ALL BECAUSE IT SAVES YOU MONEY ??? MY MOTHER IN LAW IS 20 WEEK PREGNANT AND IN NO STATE TO HAVE HER BABY AT HOME BUT YET CHOSES TO AS SHE CANT TRAVEL THESE DISTENCES SO NOT ONLY A BABIES GOING TO DIE BUT MOTHERS TO BE TOO

The idiots who have made the appauling decision today to deprive rochdale residents of a service that is saving lives on a daily basis should now be challanged in the high court by every member of this community, i can speak with a great deal of experiance as an employee of the nhs but even more so as a mother of two children, one of whom was born weighing just 2lb 7oz as a result of a serious maternal condition Pre-Eclampsia. Maternity and neonatal care in this town saved the life of myself and my daughter, i am mortified at the thought that parents could face being so far away from their babies at such a difficult time(Parents cannot stay with their babies on any S.C.B.U overnight) I feel that this would be a breech of human rights and should be brought before the european court to be discussed further. It is an absolute disgrace. With no A+E no neonatal services we are a town that shall be soon increasing our death rate quite rapidly. Today is a sad day for the people of rochdale. The disgusting people who have today destroyed our healthcare in this town will be going home to their towns safe in the knowlage that if they or any of their loved ones should need emergancy care that they will be ok as they do not live in Rochdale! Im quite sure things would be very different if they did(their ridiculous salaries can afford private health plans anyway!) The decision makers are probably quite happily sitting pretty now, saving all this money to repair the mess that has been made by people such as themselves over the last few years, how long will it be before this town suffers, and who will be brought to book when this all goes so very wrong. who is going to be accountable when the first tiny baby dies in transit,who cares? not the bigwigs from God knows where, and why wont Rochdale benefit from the Birchhill land sale millions? Id like to know so that when we have lost our services and gained a worthless centre of no hope where the highly trained staff that work there now will be long gone they will all have to jump ship before it sinks n they will be pushed overboard anyway. Please people of Rochdale im begging you please dont let this happen, do something, anything, dont let unneccesary suffering take place. I know what it is like to make a short journey to hospital not knowing if your sick baby will still be a sick baby when you get there or if you are going to find that your baby is no more. The staff at rochdale S.C.B.U saved my daughter, all mothers,and those of you who either have or know a mother(that should cover everyone), i appeal to you from my heart, i beg you for all the pain and suffering my family went through we have a daughter with no ill effects of prematurity thanks to dedicated highly skilled staff in our town.

Joanne is talking nonsense. The system is NOT working with Rochdale maternity unit closed on a regular basis.

Doc, have you asked why Rochdale has been shutting? Because we're too full of patients including those from Oldham thats shut because no staff want to work there!

What she said (Emma)

This is an outrage. How can thay do something like this the meternity ward in rochdale is a much needed ward. take that out of rachdale along with the rest and there's going to be alot of problems. just what if there was a serious accident in rochdale witch congested mayjor roads . Not only having to worry about GETTIN to an AnE but gettin there on TIME

doc!! get your facts right. if you were to enquire how many times rochdale maternity closed compared to oldham fairfield and north manchester you would find that rochdale had the least number of closures!!!!!

I have been at the meeting in Manchester all day and have been left totally bemused at the way the people of this town have been let down. At one point it looked as though there might be a glimmer of hope that Fairfield hospital may have a reprieve, but it was decided that if North Manchester hospital was to close then this would put undue pressure on Saint Mary's in Central Manchester because they would not ba able to cope with the extra numbers.

I feel that Rochdale was never given a chance in the options because a fact that came to light this morning is that Pennine Acute Trust have given a figure of ¿¿40 million to upgrade Rochdale Infirmary. Whereas to build new at NMGH would only cost ¿¿10 million. These figues do not add up. R.I. maternity and children's unit is new and purpose built. NMGH has an old mat unit and no children's unit at all. I believe this figure of ¿¿40 m is artificially inflated and was thrown in to muddy the waters and suggest that Rochdale is untenable due to cost. How then when Phase Two of the development at R.I. was proposed a few years ago, it would have only cost ¿¿9m, this would have been for 100 extra beds etc. It cannot be that costs have risen to such a degree. Pennine Acute Trust have some questions to answer here.

All day we were continually being told that R.I. is a land locked site. I dispute that also. The old A&E, outpatients and the pathology lab are in a large single storey building, this together with the Stonehill block could provide an area that could accommodate a multy storey extension. The site is not locked in a vertical direction!

As soon as the committee heard the figure ¿¿40m, we were dismissed out of hand as a viable option without looking any further at the level of social deprivation, the extra distances that people would have to travel out of town and the population affected, which incidentally includes Whitworth valley Bacup some of Rossendale and Todmorden amongst others.

Rochdale scored high on their own scale for Equity which indicates the level of disruption caused by these factors. Again the decision leaves me utterly baffled that Rochdale's needs were totally dismissed.

I have campaigned for over a year together with The Friends of Our Hospital committee, Paul Rowen MP and midwives and staff on the maternity unit,we have shown why this facility is so vital for the area and how so many people would be affected by it's closure. The unit has a fantastic reputation far beyond the borough and has a workforce who are long established, highly professional and dedicated.

We have been accused of closing too often, I can tell you that we generally only close because of full capacity and not because of shortages of staff. We do not close as many times as the other hospitals in the Trust.

I feel desperate for the women, babies, children and families of Rochdale who are going to have to travel much greater distances and possibly suffer unnecessarily all because of a lack of vision of 13 un-elected people on quango committee.

The whole of the North East Sector of Greater Manchester is now left without matenity and children's services. Why will any indusrty or workforce wish to relocate to a town that cannot offer A&E facilities and now where there will be no babies born. What is there to attract people here? The town may as well pull down the shtters, shut up shop and by the way last one out, turn off the light.

I call on the prople of this town to stand up and demand an appeal into this decision, IT IS WRONG, IT IS DANGEROUS AND IT IS UNJUST.

This decision has been taken in a high-handed manner. It seems to me that there is enough evidence left behind to show that the outome was not just 'preferred' but 'predetermined'. These guys have not been too clever in covering their tracks.

I have the utmost confidence that taking the matter out of the hands of the 'managers' and the Labour Government would be rewarded by our independent judiciary.

The only problem is that we are going to have to raise sufficient funds to test the matter in the highest courts in the land. I think it can be done.

it,s alright saying you are only 30 mins away from the nearest hospital what if you haven't got a car or any money to travel it is going to cost thousands a year for the ambulances to be called out and we all know how long they take this is a pathetic decision by the bigwigs.

What a disgrace, we need to fight this. I have two children both who are under peadiatricians. With the upcoming closure i will have to travel to oldham on the bus which will take me over an hour. It is piece of mind when medical help is only round the corner but now it will be miles away. we pay our taxes for these people to drive around in flash cars and take away a human right. we have a right to appropriate and adequate care something that we will not get. the people who made this decision are putting our unborn, babies and children at risk. a word to describe them is murderers. lives will be lost and people will suffer. we dont need specialist centres we need good community care. i think people forget that we live in england not america. i think thta services offered at rochdale are excellent and they will be greatley missed especially by the upcoming generation. Come on Rochdale Stand up and Fight....

At least Oldham has a full compliment of Consultant Obstetricians

doc! you need to get your facts right. of the four sites that make up the pennine trust rochdale has had the least number of closures. also our closure has been down to the fact that we have been full and not short staffed.

Oldham Maternity unit transfers patients to Rochdale on a regular basis due to staff sickness/shortages.
Check the stats

Patients transfered to Rochdale will often compliment staff on the care received and the friendly atmosphere.

Lets see how many babies are born on the M62 and how the already stretched ambulance service will cope with the inevitable increase in labour call outs.
What a shameful decision for the people of Rochdale and for a dedicated professional team of Drs, midwives HCA'S etc who could not work any harder.

i moved up to whitworth 5yrs ago and had my youngest child at rochdale infirmary he is now 4. Before when i lived down south my nearest hospital was over 30 mins away which was a real nightmare to get to! 2 of my children were born down there and to be honest i was more worried about getting to and from the hospital than actual child birth. May i just point out what was the point of exstending the facilities at rochdale infirmary to include a maternity ward just to close it down several years later ! More money wasted !

If it was not for rochdale infirmary me or my baby would not be alive today had if i would have had to travel it would have been a diffrent story all together please please THINK!!!!

Well that's the type of underhanded comment I'd expect from a Doc from Oldham. I have noticed that Pennine Acute haven't a bad word to say about the decision, Macclesfield have pulled out, salford may put forward a legal challenge. Need we say anymore

IT IS SO DEPRESSING TO KNOW THERE WILL BE NO MATERNITY IN ROCHDALE HOW DO THE DECISION MAKERS PROPOSE TO INTIGRATE THE STAFF WHEN THERE IS ALREADY UNWELCOMING COMMENTS ABOUT THE UNIT AND STAFF AT ROCHDALE DO THEY PROPOSE MORE AMBULANCE SERVISES AS A LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WILL NOT TRAVEL TO OTHER AREAS AS THEY DO NOT KNOW THE WAY THEY WILL ALSO BE FRIGHTENED INCASE THE BABY ARRIVES TO EARLY

i think it is stupid wat if mums to be go in labour early wat will happen then.

Once again, another shameful act of betrayal on the people of Rochdale, by faceless and unlistening suits, whose need to boost their own egos far outweighs the needs and wishes of the people they purport to serve.

What will their answer be when the first person dies because the ambulance was unable to get to Oldham or Crumpsall in time?

When does Rochdale's closing down sale begin?

I'm sorry my comment was felt to be underhand. It is however true.

Currently I do not have any children and live in Rochdale. However I work at North Manchester General (Crumpsall) and what a nightmare it is to get there first thing in the morning, over an hour in the rush hour. This will be even worse for those living in Syke, Whitworth and Shawclough who have to battle their way down Whitworth Road every morning. What a discrace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The only chance of residents of Rochdale to retain a relatively local maternity/ childrens inpatient service is by uniting behind the current Fairfield Hospital's bid to keep its services. The decision to go with Option 'A' instead of Option 'Fa ' went to a 'photo finish' before option A won. There are a number of reasons why this could still be overturned - if there is unity between the two towns Bury and Rochdale in this:
1)The govt may well be keen to get the Bury votes (which is a marginal labour constituency now) and for this may well decide to 'change their mind' and keep overnight services in Fairfield. Voters in Crumpsall aren't going to vote conservative are they? ecen if Northmanchester dont get the service
2) North Manchester Hopsital has very poor building stock and any new development will need to be 'from scratch' which mean a considerably large investment into new buidings - money not available with Pennine Hospitals NHS trust now. Fairfield already has very good Maternity and childrens wards...
Therefore I ask Rochdale residents, please, please unite behind Fairfield's efforts to retain services. It is very unlikely Rochdale is going to get a reprieve. Divided we fall!