GOVERNMENT Health Secretary Frank Dobson said that concerns over Bury's maternity service were for local management to deal with.

His comments came in response to claims made by midwives about the declining state of maternity care due to staff cuts at Fairfield Hospital.

Speaking during a visit to Bury on Friday, he said: "There are staff shortages and cuts in some parts of the country and not in others. A government health department cannot deal with that. It is down to local management to tackle the situation."

During his visit, Mr Dobson officially opened the Blackford House Medical Centre in Croft Lane, Hollins -- a four-partner GP practice which cares for 8,000 patients in Bury and Whitefield. Praising staff for their excellent skills and quality of care, he said: "What I really want to do is try to make sure the standards of health care match the excellent skills and quality of staff who work for us in the NHS service."

He went on to say that Bury's Health Action Zone bid would make a significant impact on health standards in the area.

"It is about different partnerships working together to target and improve health inequalities in the area. And the government is offering funding to help push it along and achieve the goals," he explained.

After a tour of the centre he went to BARDOC -- an on-call service which provides out-of-hours medical cover for the borough -- for a private meeting with health bosses to discuss the Health Action Zone bid and other local health improvement schemes.

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