JUST 12 months ago the fate of Macclesfield Hospital’s maternity and children’s wards was hanging in the balance.

But after overwhelming public support from the town and an 11th hour resolution in December 2006, the units were given a reprieve and vital services for mums-to-be and youngsters now remain on our doorstep.

All the fierce campaigning – including a petition with more than 50,000 signatures and a pram push through the town spearheaded by local midwives – paid off and over the past year both obstetric and paediatric departments have gone from strength to strength.

Macclesfield MP Sir Nicholas Winterton, who threw his weight behind the campaign from the start, led the battle-cry, alongside the Express’ Hands Off Our Hospital Campaign.

Sir Nicholas then took the battle to save our local district general to the top, presenting the petition with almost 57,000 signatures from Macclesfield, Wilmslow, Congleton and beyond to the Secretary of State for Health.

The campaign instantly captured the imagination and spirit of our town and heart-warming stories about how important a part Macclesfield Hospital has played in the lives of so many people soon came pouring in.

We heard from parents and children who depend on having a maternity and children’s ward on their doorstep and what it would mean if those services were lost.

Support was overwhelming from the people of Macclesfield and the campaign became huge, reaching Prestbury, Handforth, Alderley Edge, Wilmslow and Congleton; not to mention all the outlying villages surrounding Macclesfield, Leek, Buxton and parts of Derbyshire and the High Peak.

A year on and, as the celebration cake was cut, the wards continue to provide the high quality services they always have, justified in their fight to keep core services local for the people of East Cheshire and beyond.

During 2007, staff at the maternity unit at Macclesfield have been further boosted by a number of success stories.

Testament to the ward’s excellent reputation were first-time new mums Hayley Ryley, 21, with her baby girl Bethany Gibson, just 12-hours-old, and Jane Willock and her two-day-old daughter Ava-Jane Willock.

Full of praise and bursting with pride, Hayley, of Moss Lane, Macclesfield, said: “Staff here are fantastic. The care has been mega. Everyone helps and everyone works together as a team. I could not have got through it without them and couldn’t imagine having to go anywhere else.”

Jane, from Congleton, who was taking Ava home that day, added: “They are just so good with you, so supportive, you couldn’t ask for any more. Staff are there for you 100 per cent. I had to stay an extra 24 hours but everyone was so supportive and reassuring.”

Trust chairman Kathy Cowell added that in the last 12 months the trust has recruited three new consultant paediatricians to the children’s ward and developed an observation and assessment unit which has proved very successful, according to both staff and patients.

There was a “phenomenal” response to the advertised positions and there are plans to develop children’s services further in areas such as respiratory care.

Chief executive of the trust, John Wilbraham, said: “Twelve months ago we were always confident that the quality of services we were providing was as good as anywhere else, and since then, given the fact that we won the All-Party Parliamentary Award, had really good feedback from mothers and CNST rating about safety in the unit, we have proven that was always the case and continue to do so.

“Also people outside the patch are continuing to choose to come here. What I think we have in a smaller unit is personalised care.”

Non-executive director Mary Carrier added: “Looking back a year ago when we just had the announcement, everyone felt a mixture of exhaustion and euphoria, a lot of work went into fighting our corner, but people didn’t then just sit back on their laurels, we will continue to develop services.”

This summer, hard-working midwives were tickled pink when they scooped this year’s All-Party Parliamentary Award in the normal birth category.

After more than a year of uncertainty following proposals to streamline maternity care which threatened the hospital’s smaller ward, the award was a more than welcome boost for delighted staff.

Then Grace Hopps, head of midwifery and children’s services, said: “We are a small unit, but it just shows it is not just bigger units doing the work and other hospitals can learn by our example, which is fantastic. It is a vote of confidence and a most welcome boost after last year.”

Midwives developed a comprehensive range of innovative protocols, antenatal education and clinical practice to promote the ‘normality’ of childbirth.

East Cheshire NHS Trust highlighted the range of measures put in place, including setting up a Home Birth Support Group and website, promoting the use of the water pool for labour and birth, and working with GPs to formalise the availability of direct access to a midwife in early pregnancy.

As well as mandatory ‘active birth’ training for midwifery staff, an action plan to reduce caesarean rates and revamping the parent education programme. Since the measures were introduced, the home birth rate has doubled to 3pc and 97pc of women received one to one care in labour in 2006.

John said: “Judges felt our project offered something different that could inspire other trusts and was of great benefit to other women and families in East Cheshire.”

Grace added: “We wanted to refocus on childbirth as a normal physiological process, not an illness.”

On the back of that award, the department also increased its rating against the NHS Litigation Authority Standards for Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) from level one to level two.

And, hot on the heels of those two commendations, the unit was again celebrating after they were rated among the best in the country just last week.

Care provided during and after pregnancy by East Cheshire NHS Trust staff was recognised in a national survey called ‘Listening to Women’.

As many as 99pc of the mums who gave birth at Macclesfield and completed the Healthcare Commission questionnaire rated their care as excellent, very good or good, with the majority rating their care as ‘excellent’.

But Grace and her department continue to look forward and the team has drawn up an action plan to make the service even better. The full report is out in January and the ward also recently attained stage one of the Unicef Baby Friendly Award which promotes breastfeeding.

Both Kathy Cowell and John Wilbraham also thanked the public for their support.