I was most interested to read Coun Campbell's letter to the Bury Times about the proposals for Fairfield.

These proposals have gone through our partnership forum, which includes union representatives and staff on the wards received briefings on the first day of the start of the employment consultation period. There has therefore been no attempt to do anything "by stealth".

In addition, we discussed the issue at the overview and scrutiny committee on October 10 and subsequently wrote a letter clearly stating our position.

I see the issue has been well reported by the Bury Times.

I must also take issue with Coun Campbell's claim that "no one wants to be Chief Executive". Again, we have been extremely open about our recruitment progress. Indeed, on April 27 and June 23 I wrote to all members of staff updating them on the position.

We started it with an advert earlier this year. As it transpired, that timing coincided with a number of organisational changes for NHS bodies across the country, and it was felt that strong candidates would be more likely to apply once they had clarity on those changes.

As such, we suspended the process over the summer holiday period. I stand by that decision, taken in consultation with both our recruitment advisors and the Strategic Health Authority.

The successful candidate will play an absolutely key role in helping deliver the health services needs of all the people served by the Pennine Acute Trust.

We announced recently that we have restarted the process. In the meantime, the acting chief executive is fulfilling all the duties of this post.

Interestingly enough, when, in April, we advertised for non-executive directors, we had 20 applicants, and were able to recruit two high-quality candidates who will bring substantial additional skills to the board. One of the successful candidates is a Bury resident, the other from Rochdale.

I can assure readers that the Pennine Acute Trust has done much for Fairfield, and will continue to do so.

For example, our link nurse scheme, which helps promote good infection control practice, was developed at the hospital and has been rolled out across our Trust.

We have invested nearly £1 million on a new lab, £700,000 in a new pharmacy, and £250,000 in the critical care unit.

With the help of a substantial donation, we have created a state-of-the-art education centre which has a key role in training medical, nursing, technical and other NHS staff, both now and in the future.

We are fully aware of the need to establish firm financial foundations through our recovery programme.

That is what will underpin and support the future development of all our services, for patients in Bury and the other areas covered by the trust.

JOHN JESKY Chairman, Pennine Acute Trust