Manchester: Hospital closures and cuts 'will cost lives'

Plans to downgrade A&E and maternity services in Greater Manchester were approved yesterday amid claims the changes will cost lives - reports the Daily Telegraph.

Under the plans approved yesterday by an independent panel and Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, Rochdale Hospital's maternity and in-patient paediatrics services will close.

Its A&E will be downgraded to an urgent care centre and emergency surgery will be moved out.

Tens of thousands of people signed a petition against the closure of the maternity unit.

Fairfield Hospital in Bury will lose its maternity service, inpatient paediatrics and emergency surgery although A&E will remain.

In Salford, maternity and inpatient paediatrics services at Hope Hospital will close and its neonatal intensive care unit will move to the Royal Bolton Hospital. Trafford Hospital will lose its maternity services and inpatient paediatrics.

Managers say the changes will ensure patients are treated safely, but Paul Rowen, the Liberal Democrat MP for Rochdale, accused Mr Johnson of "wielding the axe" in Greater Manchester.

"The Labour Government ought to be ashamed of themselves. This decision by Mr Johnson will cost lives," he said.

Hazel Blears, the communities secretary and Salford MP, said she was "pleased" by the recommendation that Salford should have a stand-alone midwife-led unit.

In December, she was accused of hypocrisy after joining picket lines to protest over the proposals.