THE planned downgrade of Macclesfield Hospital’s baby unit has been played down by its chief executive – despite the move stopping some premature babies being admitted there.

At a Cheshire East Council meeting on Thursday, John Wilbraham insisted the move is not really a ‘downgrade’ but a ‘reclassification’, and that the public can expect to receive the same level of service.

But the move will mean that babies born at 31 weeks will no longer be admitted at the unit – and some councillors were not convinced by Mr Wilbraham’s attempt to reassure them.

Criticising this report from earlier this week, he said: “Following the press coverage I think it is really helpful to have the opportunity to assure this committee, public, patients and indeed staff that this is about a reclassification – not a change in any services provided.

Knutsford Guardian:

“There is no change in staffing and there is no impact on any other service, either in hospital or out of hospital, following the reclassification.”

East Cheshire NHS Trust wants to change the unit from a level two service to a level one service.

Although level two units are supposed to admit babies born after 28 weeks, Macclesfield’s unit currently admits babies born after 31 weeks or twins after 32 weeks because it doesn’t have the staffing levels to meet the requirements of a level two unit.

However, the downgrade will see the unit only admit babies born after 32 weeks.

And despite Mr Wilbraham’s claim to councillors that the service would not change, the trust admits that the move is estimated to affect three premature babies a year.

They will be sent to Leighton Hospital, in Crewe, or Stepping Hill Hospital, in Stockport, for treatment instead.

Cllr Rob Vernon, Labour member for Macclesfield Broken Cross and Upton, said: “It’s being played down an awful lot and it is being pointed out regularly that the only outcome of this is that three more babies a year will be moved to other units – that’s three babies too many.

Knutsford Guardian:

“Surprise, surprise, it is Macclesfield again. The orthodontic services, the regular threats to our A&E, the removal of our mental health services.

“I appreciate the politics of the situation – the systematic underfunding of our health service – but there are regular attacks on our hospital and it causes an awful lot of concern for my residents, for patients, for me personally.

“There is a systematic downgrading of the hospital and I take issue with the idea that this is just a re-designation.”

Asked by Cllr Vernon to confirm that the service would not change for the ‘three babies a year’ set to be affected, Mr Wilbraham added: “I think it is exactly the same service as it is today and I think that actually those babies would be treated better at a bigger unit.

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“I guess we may differentiate on the definition of downgrade, but on the service delivered, in the future it will be the same service as in the past.”

Mr Wilbraham told councillors that the unit does not need the capacity of the level two unit, and the move has been supported by the Cheshire and Mersey Neonatal Network.