I READ with interest the letter from Dr P. Umesh Prabhu, consultant paediatrician at Fairfield Hospital (October 31). I too have heard rumours regarding various departments at Fairfield, and not just Dr Prabhu's.

Work is still going on at Fairfield to create new buildings and bring the hospital up to date and things were running reasonably well until the takeover by the Pennine Trust. It was when Fairfield was amalgamated with Rochdale Royal and North Manchester General that things started to fall apart.

It seems to me that the Trust is out to make a profit, but this must not be at the expense of patients and staff.

Executives take hundreds of thousands of pounds out of the budget, money which could be spent on upgrades, in particular to A&E and maternity. All sorts of rumours surround the future of the hospital.

Nursing staff, who are leaving at a rate of knots, are being replaced by agency staff. There is no continuity and this situation is detrimental to the care of patients (incidentally, agency and "bank" staff are paid more than the permanent nursing staff at Fairfield).

The management create rotas that are almost impossible for staff to maintain, hence the exodus. They rely on the loyalty of staff not to be paid for the extra time they put in after completing their shift: sometimes as long as 10 hours or more. There are far too many chiefs at Fairfield and most definitely not enough Indians! This ratio has to be adjusted and those doing the hands-on work must be rewarded better.

Someone should be talking to nursing staff and doctors and they should be free to respond without fear of reprisal. Our MPs should be asking questions and trying to get to the bottom of these worrying rumours about Fairfield's future.

We need reassurances; we need action. The staff are doing a great job but everyone needs answers: now!

J. S. SUTCLIFFE