HEALTH chiefs have admitted they were "surprised" at the record-breaking level of response to controversial proposals to close Fairfield Hospital's maternity department.

More than 500,000 people across Greater Manchester have been involved in the 16-week public consultation for Making it Better, which came to an end on May 12.

An independent organisation has now been brought in to sift through more than 55,000 formal written responses before presenting the findings of the consultation in September.

Final figures from the consultation have revealed the Making it Better team held 745 public meetings and events across the review area with 17,500 people attending. The website has received 9,328 "hits" and 1,915 people submitted a response form online. More than 128,000 people have signed petitions, making it the largest-ever response to a health consultation anywhere in the UK.

Leila Williams, director of the Children's Network, said: "We are surprised but absolutely delighted at the response. It clearly shows the huge importance attached to this area of healthcare and thank everyone for their contribution. It means that everyone has really had their say and made it an effective consultation."

Running alongside Making it Better is Healthy Futures which is aiming to bring more hospital services into the community and for Fairfield to lose its acute surgery with services transferred to North Manchester and Royal Oldham.

Since the consultation began in January, 101,928 patients, public and staff have attended 705 events. Almost 5,000 people have logged onto the website and 4,085 people have completed formal response forms. Three petitions in Rochdale, Bury and Heywood have collected more than 36,000 signatures in total.

The feedback and responses will now be independently analysed by the University of Salford and the findings will be presented to the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts, made up of representatives from 17 primary care trusts, for a decision to be made in September.

The two consultations, which are a statutory requirement of the Health and Social Care Act, have cost £1.5 million so far, with hundreds of thousands of leaflets, booklets and posters sent out across Greater Manchester.