"Hands off Malton maternity unit!"

That's the resounding message from Ryedale in the wake of a planned shake-up of local maternity services by National Health Service chiefs.

Cash-strapped Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare Trust has recently announced a turnaround plan aiming to plug a £27million black hole.

Part of this is a proposed change in the Trust's maternity services - sparking fears that Malton could face the axe all together.

Trust bosses have pledged that the Malton maternity wing will remain open but campaigners say this has been eroded over time to a skeleton service.

Now the Gazette & Herald has launched its own campaign - Birth Right - with the support of town officials.

Backing the initiative "110 per cent" is Ryedale District Councillor Howard Keal, who is angered by what he says is a determined effort by the NHS trust to undermine maternity services in Malton.

He said: "This latest threat is one in a long line of attempts by the Trust to reduce the service in Malton Hospital.

"In the past I have been promised that women should continue to have the right to stay overnight at the unit when giving birth.

"There is clear evidence that this assurance has been broken and what we are seeing is a gradual erosion of the maternity services in Malton."

Trust bosses have masterminded a turn-around plan' for both Whitby and Malton community hospitals.

If they go ahead babies would no longer be born at these smaller hospitals but they will still have a unit where ante-natal and post-natal care will be given, and where midwives covering Ryedale will be based.

Mothers would be able to have their babies at home, with the local midwife, and if there were likely to be complications they would be taken to Scarborough, York or Middlesbrough.

A public consultation will start in December and continue into March next year to decide the future of local maternity services.

But this has not allayed the fears of public figures in Malton.

Town mayor Jane Ford, who had two of her children at the unit, said she will do whatever it takes to save the local service.

She said: "Malton maternity unit is like a home from home and the staff there are wonderful.

"Why should women be transported all the way to Scarborough, York or even Middlesbrough if the service in Malton is better?

"I am very concerned that we are going to lose something very important to the town and I would back any campaign to fight a reduction in its service."

Also behind the campaign is Coun Paul Andrews, who is concerned about any further reduction in the service at the unit.

He said: "I welcome any attempts to save the maternity unit at Malton Hospital. I find it extremely disappointing that at one point we were told the unit would be saved and that the unit was going to be improved, then it's under threat of closure again.

"The hospital should be able to plan for the future and not be at the mercy of faceless bureaucrats."

Ryedale MP John Greenway is backing the campaign and has written to Iain McInnes, the acting chief executive of the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust, expressing his disappointment that he has not been informed of the consultation on the future of acute medical services for Ryedale patients, which included proposals to close Malton maternity unit. He said: "Over the past 20 years to my knowledge the future of the unit has come under the microscope every time a new NHS official takes office, and there is a review of the provision of services.

The most recent one was two years ago, when the currently suspended chief executive Alison Guy gave a public commitment that it would remain open, albeit with revised access hours. This was in response to overwhelming public feeling that the maternity service should be retained to provide mothers with a proper choice and also in recognition of the distances involved in travelling to alternative locations like Scarborough and York.

I understand that consultants are suggesting that instead of mothers giving birth at Malton they would have their babies delivered at home. This does not seem to be a viable alternative, and would appear to be designed to push people to Scarborough or York."

He added that he had already had many approaches from very concerned constituents about this matter once again being put under review, and that it would appear that it is simply about saving money, not delivering choice.

National Childbirth Trust teacher in Ryedale, Helen Ashton, said that comments made last week by the chief executive seemed to be suggesting that it was not safe to give birth at Malton Hospital because of concerns over lack of medical back-up.

But at the same time he is advocating home births. Malton Hospital is not going to be more dangerous than a home birth so he can't have it both ways. He should be honest and say what it is - a cost cutting measure," she said.

She added: "It would only cut costs in the short term anyway. If you push more mothers to Scarborough and York, you're going to end up with low-risk women in high-risk units, leading to more costly intervention and use of drugs."

Health Trust officials say that at the moment the hospital offers a 24-hour service for women who want to give birth in Malton, but the shake-up is about making the service more streamlined and it is not about cost.

Over the consultation period members of the public will be asked for their opinions and the proposals will also go to overview and scrutiny committees.

A spokeswoman for Scarborough and East Yorkshire Trust said: "During the consultation there will be public meetings. Anyone who wants to make a comment should look at the facts and safety aspects and we want to demonstrate that we do listen.

"There will be a consultation document which will explain what we are doing and what aspects of care we should offer.

"We will be very happy with all the constructive comments from members of the public and they should send these to the chief executive at Scarborough Hospital.

"It is important that people understand that we are never going to close Malton maternity unit and always offer care there."

Currently 65 midwives are employed by the trust to deal with the 1,500 births a year in the area.

In the past 12 months from March 2005 Malton Hospital had 46 deliveries at the maternity unit. Over the same period there were 58 births at Whitby Community Hospital. This compares with 1,482 deliveries at Scarborough General.