A CHILDREN'S eye specialist has voiced his concerns over plans to close Bury's maternity department and transform services.

In a letter sent to Les Coop, chairman of the Making it Better Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts, Dr Peter North said he was "absolutely certain" none of the options outlined in the consultation document were reasonable and that the recommendations had been published without all the information.

He said: "One must always evaluate one's practice and change it for the better. However, one must be sure that change is for the better and not for the sake of change per se."

Dr North is employed by the Pennine Acute Trust, which runs Fairfield Hospital, as an associate specialist in ophthalmology and as a community ophthalmologist with Bury Primary Care Trust.

For almost 15 years, Dr North, of Chadderton Drive in Unsworth, has been screening premature babies for potentially blinding diseases at Fairfield and Rochdale Infirmary, the two hospitals where maternity and children services are currently under threat in the Making it Better proposals. In the last two years, he has extended his practice to North Manchester General Hospital.

Referring to the Making it Better consultation document, Dr North wrote: "The legend reads information not available at time of going to press. Please see website for updated details' how can anyone make assessments without the full information? The document went to press before the information was available. Thus the obvious conclusion is that you have made recommendations, or are they decisions?, in the absence of full information. Not everyone knows how to access the internet and negotiate websites. Therefore you are depriving some people of full information."

Under the proposals, if Fairfield was to lose its inpatient maternity services, mothers would be forced to travel to alternative hospitals with suitable facilities the closest being North Manchester General Hospital which is nine miles from Bury or ten miles to Royal Bolton Hospital for residents to the north of the borough. Dr North said: "Some of the journeys by public transport are particularly arduous. You consultation document claim no journey should take an unreasonable time by public transport. One of my sons lives in Oldham. I live on the south side of Bury. Using public transport, my son has to allow a minimum of two hours. When visiting a sick baby, or the mother has to be an inpatient longer than usual because of complications, is this a reasonable time'?"

Two weeks ago, 118 midwives at Fairfield released a signed statement saying the proposals were "deeply flawed" and the configuration would "leave a huge gap in service provision" for the northern part of the review area.

They joined campaigners, including Bury North MP David Chaytor, who have questioned the proposal to close the existing unit at Fairfield and build a new one at North Manchester General.

Dr North concluded: "I would suggest a far safer option is that if closures are necessary, the units at North Manchester General Hospital are a safer and better option. I assure you that I base this suggestion on what I see as clinical grounds, not on my residential area."