A BIG shake-up is planned for the borough's health service which could mean Fairfield Hospital being merged with others in Oldham, Rochdale and North Manchester.

Health ministers have approved three months of public consultation to create a single NHS Trust from April 2002.

The proposals affect the organisation and management of hospital services, which will continue to be provided from existing sites.

But the local health watchdog, the Community Health Council, has called for more cash to be pumped into the service rather than having another reorganisation. It also worries that people may have to travel further for treatment.

Mr Paul Reynolds, chief officer for the CHC, told the Bury Times: "This is the seventh reorganisation of the local health service in 15 years. Every time we were promised that services would improve, they got worse."

He added: "I will need convincing that the upheaval in the health service will carry with it an improvement of services." Health bosses say the merger could save £1 million in administration costs which would be reinvested in front-line service.

Mrs Gloria Oates, project director, said: "It will help closer working between the clinical services of the hospital sites involved, supporting greater sharing of professional knowledge and expertise to maximise the quality of care to patients."

She added: "This proposal is about improving patient care, although there is an opportunity for us to make better, more efficient, use of the resources available to existing NHS Trusts."

The consultation document detailing the shake-up will be released next week. Various bodies including the public will be invited to comment.

Mr Reynolds said: "We will be studying the document line by line and will make sure all our questions have been answered. We want to know what benefits such a radical merger would have."

He added: "The CHC would rather the department of health provided more resources rather than tinkering round the edges moving things around.

"The previous changes made in the service have not lasted. How long will this new Trust last?"

Unison branch secretary Pete Hinchliffe said he would be studying the document closely.

"We will need to seek assurances that the mergers really will mean an improvement in services and that our patients will still be able to receive their treatment at their local hospital.

"In addition, we need to be certain there will be no job losses in an area that has some of the worst unemployment rates in the country.