HEALTH campaigners in Rossendale are dismayed after a decision to downgrade accident and emergency facilities at Rochdale Infirmary was rubberstamped by watchdogs.

An overhaul of health services in North East Manchester will see thousands of patients in the Valley having to travel to either Oldham, North Manchester or Fairfield Hospital at Bury for a casualty ward.

With the Valley already being affected by proposals to downgrade the A&E ward at Burnley Hospital, to the north, residents have been left facing a double headache.

Coun Gladys Sandiford, herself a former midwife, said she was "very disappointed" at the Rochdale announcement, which was confirmed yesterday by the the health service's Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP).

Under the proposals an urgent care centre would be established at the Rochdale hospital, which is run by Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

Coun Sandiford said: "I am just disappointed at the effect that this will have on Rossendale citizens.

"It is just another loss of our community facilities.

"People are going to have to go over to Oldham, North Manchester or Bury and it will have a big impact.

"It just makes a mockery when this reconfiguration idea was supposed to bring local services to local people. Now they are just disappearing into the distance.

"Whether this is going to strengthen our arm, when it comes to getting an urgent care centre and a midwife-led unit at the new health centre for Rossendale."

Multi-million pound plans to develop a health hub' for Rossendale have been submitted to the Department of Health for consideration.

"Our resources are draining away and now we need to look at what we can secure for the new health centre," said Coun Sandiford.

"Some of our health centres are being renovated and that is fine but we need to have somewhere to deal with urgent care and midwife care."

The results of another major health service reorganisation consultation were also announced yesterday by the IRP.

The Making It Better consultation will see maternity care, currently provided at nearby Fairfield Hospital, Bury, move to three super units at St Mary's in Manchester, the Royal Bolton Hospital and the Royal Oldham Hospital.

Mothers-to-be in parts of Rossendale would previously have used either Fairfield or Burnley General hospital's maternity units.