THE details of the public consultation on the future of Devizes and Malmesbury maternity units will be reported to the board meeting of the Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust on December 16.

The trust will make a final decision next April on whether to transfer birthing and inpatient postnatal facilities from Devizes to Trowbridge and from Malmesbury to Chippenham.

The three-month public consultation will start in January and the trust has pledged to hold public meetings and publish a consultation document.

Stephen Golledge, acting joint chief executive of the trust, said: "The board considered very carefully the findings of the review and our recent survey and recognised the strength of feeling about the maternity service provided by the West Wiltshire Primary Care Trust.

"However, it is clear to us that the smaller units in Malmesbury and Devizes are under-used and more costly to run than, for example, Chippenham or Trowbridge.

"We believe that through public involvement and the survey which has been undertaken we have been able to consider options for future provision.

"The public consultation is important for us to understand if there are any new issues which might be raised.

"We shall ensure that the public have the opportunity to discuss the proposals with us and the dates of local public meetings will be published widely. In addition we will be happy to receive written comments."

Many people are determined to keep the fight to save the units going. Among them is Richard Hallett, a leading figure in organisations promoting midwife-led units in the UK.

He successfully led a campaign to save a community maternity unit in Crowborough, East Sussex, that was under threat in 1984, 1990 and finally in 1996.

Mr Hallett and townspeople came up with a plan on how it could operate to increase the number of births and in 1997 the health authority agreed to give the unit two years to prove itself.

Simply by promoting the unit more women used it and it is now flourishing with around 350 births a year compared to 52 in 1991. Mr Hallett said: "If a health trust is not actively encouraging a maternity unit and continually raising questions about its viability uncertainty prevails among women.

"I believe that both Devizes and Malmesbury maternity units can be viable. Devizes has a growing catchment area with new housing being built.

"There are women who go to the acute hospitals in Swindon, Salisbury and Bath to give birth, who have normal births, who could go to Devizes Maternity Unit and they would double the number of births at the unit.

"There's lots of potential to increase the catchment area for Malmesbury Maternity Unit, particularly to include women who live in West Swindon."