SHARON Charity, the prospective Parliamentary Labour candidate for Devizes, challenged Health Secretary Dr John Reid at the party's annual conference in Brighton to back the appeal to save Devizes Maternity Unit.

Mrs Charity, a mother of two from Market Lavington, told Dr Reid of the huge campaign to retain the 24-hour maternity unit.

The Health Secretary will shortly be receiving a submission document from Wiltshire County Council's health overview and scrutiny committee asking him to investigate its appeal against the decision by the Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust to close both Devizes and Malmesbury maternity units.

Mrs Charity was one of 50 delegates at a closed session health seminar with Dr Reid and health ministers Rosie Winterton, Melanie Johnston and John Hutton at the conference last week.

She said: "I pointed out to Dr Reid that the closure of Devizes Maternity Unit was clearly against Government policy following on from the recent publication of the National Service Framework.

"He said that sometimes locally devolved decisions made by clinicians conflict with the opinions of local people.

"I spoke to him afterwards and made it clear that the medical professionals outside the primary care trust, the midwives and the GPs, as well as members of the public are all speaking as one voice on this.

"Dr Reid told me to email all the details about it to his special advisor. Obviously he can't make any promises but I am confident that he will look at the arguments carefully.

"To keep the maternity unit open is consistent with Government policy and I would be very disappointed if he doesn't back the appeal."

Later in the day Mrs Charity spoke on the main stage of the conference hall in front of several thousand delegates and again condemned Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust's decision to close the maternity unit.

She said: "The PCT's decision was taken not only in the face of Government policy but in the teeth of a massive protest by local people a march on Parliament and a 10,000 signature petition.

"This betrayal of mums and babies in Devizes doesn't need to happen. Instead of shutting maternity units, we should be incorporating them into the new children's centres which will be a central pledge of Labour's bid for a third term in Government."

Mrs Charity also made the Prime Minister's wife Cherie Blair aware of the situation facing mums and babies in Devizes when she met her at the Royal College of Midwives' exhibition stall.

The appeal submission is due to be submitted to Dr Reid on October 15.

At a meeting on Tuesday local action group DASH2 (Devizes Action to Save Our Hospital) agreed to write to Dr Reid in support of the appeal referral.

In her letter Devizes mayor Margaret Taylor, the chairman of DASH2, said: "I wish to assure you that the whole population of the Devizes community area is against the closure. There is also support by local authorities, MPs, user groups and cross party support.

"We contend that the decision to close the maternity unit and the public consultation process have been conducted with vital information withheld." The units were due to close after November 1 but until the outcome of the appeal is determined the closures are put on hold.