A RADICAL shake-up of maternity and children's services in Greater Manchester is up in the air after the Health Secretary ordered an independent inquiry.

Regional health bosses decided to cut overnight care for mums and babies from 13 hospitals to eight after a two-year consultation - the biggest held by the NHS.

But Patricia Hewitt referred the decision to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel, a committee which will start a completely new review of maternity services and children's care.

The panel now has three months to review the proposals and gather new evidence from local people before making their own recommendations for Ms Hewitt to consider.

It will consist of doctors, hospital managers, members of the public and maternity experts from outside the north west. The team, who are expected to be named next week, will consider safety, access and sustainability and will hold public meetings in the affected hospitals.

The review, announced in the Commons yesterday, follows immense pressure from mothers, midwives and politicians from Salford, Bury and Rochdale all trying to save their local services. Councillors in the three areas rejected the plans claiming the review process was flawed and the decision was not safe for local people. It is also understood several key politicians have met with Ms Hewitt to protest at the plans.

Labour Chairman Hazel Blears was accused of hypocrisy after she joined a demonstration calling for maternity care to continue at Hope Hospital, in her Salford constituency, despite supporting a national policy of maternity reconfiguration.

Last night campaigners were celebrating a victory for people power and looking forward to a "fair" review. But health bosses said the decision process had been thorough and they would continue planning for the vital changes which they say will save women and babies' lives.

Paul Rowen, MP for Rochdale, said: "This is absolutely brilliant news, we are a step closer to maintaining the health services that Rochdale needs and deserves.

"For the first time we are actually going to have a set of people who are not working to a pre-agreed agenda, the panel will not have vested interests. All the hidden promises and arrangements have been swept away and this is a clean sheet which will now look at what are the best services for local people."

"I would like to pay tribute to the 50,000 plus people who took part in the consultations, who never gave up despite all the supposed odds."

As part of the "Making it Better" consultation health bosses decided to create overnight maternity and children's units at Stepping Hill in Stockport, North Manchester General, Wigan Infirmary and Wythenshawe in south Manchester. Three super centres in St Mary's, Manchester, the Royal Bolton Hospital and the Royal Oldham will also care for the sickest babies from the region.

Unless Ms Hewitt overturns the decision, women will no longer routinely give birth at Fairfield Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary, Trafford General or Hope Hospital by 2011.

Health bosses say they will continue with £60m preparations to create the new units and transfer services but cannot make any changes which could prejudice the appeal.

The public consultation on the controversial plans cost £865,000 and received almost 200,000 responses, sparked marches and numerous debates in The Commons. Making it Better bosses have refused to reveal the total cost of the consultation.

Leila Williams, Director of the Children, Young People and Families Network, who ran the consultation, said: "In any consultation process there is a right of review.

"The consultation has been a transparent process throughout and we will be working with the panel by providing them with whatever information they need to do their work.

"This is about saving babies' lives and giving women and children access to the best and safest possible care. The consultation was one of the largest and most thorough in the history of the health service, with more than 242,000 responses from members of the public, patients and staff, across the review area"

Wayne Campbell, leader of Bury Council said: "This is wonderful news. We have always felt there was a very strong case for Fairfield Hospital to continue providing maternity and children's care and that it was put forward strongly to the original consultation - it was only the decision we disagreed with.

"I am confident the independent panel will recommend Fairfield provides overnight care for women and children because it is the only site which provides cover for a huge section of North East Manchester, not just Bury, but Rossendale and parts of Rochdale too."

Salford City Council leader Coun John Merry said: "It's important that we get the right provisions to ensure that deliveries are safe and to enable women to give birth as safely and as close to home as possible.

"We have done everything we possibly could to ensure that the Secretary of State was fully aware of our objections to the earlier decision.

"We believe maternity services in Salford are safe, feasible and equitable, and that the proposals that include Hope should be looked at again.

"We feel the consultation process was flawed and that some important points simply weren't considered by the original committee."

Rochdale campaigner Father Arthur Nearey from the Friends of our Hospital who said, "This is a brilliant decision, if unexpected - this could really be the turning point in the campaign to save maternity and childcare services in hospitals across Greater Manchester. I always hoped that common sense would prevail." and I think that this may herald a better and healthier future for Rochdalians."

Councillor Jean Ashworth, a nurse at Rochdale Infirmary said, "The staff at the Infirmary are overjoyed, especially the midwives. We dug in and now have a second chance, across Greater Manchester communities now feel that they have been listened to. It just goes to show that with a strong campaign and a never say die attitude we can get the Government to listen."

Health Minister Rosie Winterton, who announced the review to the Commons yesterday, she promised MPs that there would be full consultation on the proposals and a full timetable would be announced soon.

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