How would you protect our maternity unit?

Michael Ancram

(Conservative)

I HAVE, since it was first threatened with closure, been a staunch campaigner both locally and in Parliament to save the maternity unit. It is vital not only in Devizes but throughout the rest of Kennet.

It is the only maternity unit in the constituency.

I will continue to fight for the unit at the highest level of government. The safety of mothers and babies across the constituency could well depend on it.

It is essential that we do not allow a false sense of security to grow because of promises of reconsideration and consultation. Our pressure must be constant.

We must keep the unit in the public eye and its importance high on the public agenda. I would use Parliament as appropriate to do so.

I would continue to work closely with local campaigners to achieve maximum pressure on the PCT and on the Department of Health.

Alan Wood

(UK Independence Party)

DEVIZES has grown enormously over time with many more young women living here. If we needed a maternity unit years ago, the need is even greater now.

Labour has cut support money for local services in rural areas for years there's no point in voting them in again.

Devizes maternity unit would not be saved.

The money needed to fund the unit and its staff, or build a new one, is being taken by the EU in Brussels; £300,000 every hour for this constituency alone. Much of it goes to French farmers.

We do not have enough doctors and nurses thanks to the EU working time directive yet millions of pounds goes on EU bureaucrats like Peter Mandelson, and unwanted EU regional government.

The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives will not leave the EU. Only UKIP promises to get your country back and use taxes to fund the maternity unit.

Sharon Charity

(Labour)

DEVIZES needs a new maternity unit to serve its growing population and new families throughout Kennet and North Wiltshire.

The existing unit is a shining example of midwife-led care, offering support during labour, in helping pregnant women to stop smoking and in getting breastfeeding established after birth.

My family had the benefit of this second-to-none service, and as MP for Devizes I will fight to make sure the next generation has the same choice.

A new maternity unit should be closely linked to a new Children's Centre offering a range of services in health and education.

If Labour is elected we will create a children's centre in every community, and as your MP, and a grateful former patient of Devizes Maternity Unit, I would make it my top priority to ensure that the gold-standard service on offer today is part of a brighter future for children and families throughout the whole constituency.

Fiona Hornby

(Liberal Democrat)

I THINK the provision of a maternity unit in Devizes is essential along with the other services necessary to maintain such a unit.

Liberal Democrats want a health service where quality services are delivered closer to home.

Liberal Democrats believe that local investment priorities in the NHS should be set by locally elected people who can be kicked out if they get it wrong.

Local support for our maternity unit suggests that under this system it would stay open!

I support the Royal College of Midwives' campaign, which includes a call for midwife-led units to be a choice for mothers.

There is a shortage of trained midwives, there need to be more training places.

As MP I would campaign for better funding and a fairer distribution of funds in this rural area.

It is wrong when small community units are starved of funds because of financial problems in larger units.

Yet another reason why Liberal Democrats will abolish targets and let local professionals use their judgement for the design and delivery of services locally.

What else should we ask the candidates? E-mail your questions to glawrence@newswilts.co.uk or write to the address on Page 8.