DEVIZES MP Michael Ancram is preparing to take on the Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust over its proposals to merge Devizes Maternity Unit with the unit at Trowbridge.

Mr Ancram is furious the trust is proposing to remove birthing and post natal in-patient facilities at Devizes, leaving just a daytime ante natal clinic.

He urged women who had booked in at Devizes Maternity Unit to continue, and urged pregnant women who were considering booking in at Devizes to do so, to prove to the trust that the unit was well used and needed.

Mr Ancram said: "The fight must go on to keep the Devizes unit. This recommendation is short sighted, ill advised and is budget motivated, not socially motivated, and it's wrong.

"I have had lots of representations about this from people in Devizes and the surrounding area and I am speaking for all the mothers across the Kennet area including from Marlborough and beyond and the Lavingtons.

"If this recommendation is approved, mothers from across Kennet will be deprived of a maternity unit that offers birthing facilities, ante natal and post natal care. The unit has a reputation for excellent care and it would be wrong to lose it.

"The trust itself has said the birth rate in Devizes is going to increase by almost six per cent in the next eight years.

"I find it quite incredible that a recommendation has been made for budget driven reasons."

Mr Ancram added that Devizes and the surrounding area needed a maternity unit and it was not good enough to centralise it.

He said: "I have made it clear from the beginning that a maternity unit must remain in Devizes and it must be part of the plans to build a new hospital in Devizes.

"Travelling to Trowbridge from Devizes can take a long time at certain parts of the day but it will be considerably more difficult for women who live in the Lavingtons or Marlborough.

"There are dangers involved in travelling longer distances when women are in labour."

Mr Ancram urged people to make clear to the trust that Devizes needs to retain its 24-hour maternity unit.

He said: "We have a public body which is poised to take the wrong decision and we must oppose it.

"The trust is committing itself to public consultation.

"I would urge the public to make clear to the trust how opposed they are to this recommendation to close this locally based unit."