HEALTH chief Carol Clarke was unable to guarantee that Devizes and Malmesbury maternity units would stay open if they were short staffed.

Last week both units received an unexpected reprieve of 12 months as Mrs Clarke, joint chief executive of Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust and West Wiltshire Primary Care Trust, conducts a wide ranging review of services.

At a board meeting on Tuesday in Devizes Paula Winchcombe, representing Kennet District Council, asked if the units would close if they were short staffed.

Mrs Clarke said: "We have made a commitment to staff the service to the levels it should be staffed whilst the 12 month period operates. However, operationally that is not going to be easy to do immediately.

"Our staff have been managing in very difficult situations. It has been difficult to recruit and that situation will not change as we don't know what is going to happen in the next 12 months.

"My primary duty is that patients in those units are safely treated and if I have to make decisions on an operational basis to close them temporarily I will do so. We will be working very hard to minimise the disruption that might occur."

The reprieve came about following discussions between the Department of Health and the Strategic Health Authority following a referral by Wiltshire County Council's health overview and scrutiny committee which objected to the trust's decision to close the units.

The trust was facing an investigation by an independent panel into the way it handled the public consultation and made its decision in July to close both maternity units.