* Mr David Mitchell:

"I'm very saddened to hear that Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust is planning to move the Special Care Neo-Natal Unit from Huddersfield and centralise everything in Halifax.

"Our daughter Isobelle was born 11 weeks premature in January 2004 (weighing 3lb 1oz) and it was touch and go as to whether or not she would survive.

"My wife had to have an emergency section and I hate to think what would have happened if we'd have had to wait to be transferred to Halifax.

"Travelling to Halifax (in these circumstances) would have been impossible.

"Does Dr Sharpe think that moving everything to one hospital will improve quality of service or is this just another way of saving money?

"Until you've been a frequent visitor to the Special Care Unit you can't appreciate just how hard it is to have a child staying there.

"The doctors and nurses working at HSCBU are absolutely first class."

* Mik Roberts, of Huddersfield: "Do these people ever stop and think about the affect moving the SCBU to Halifax could have on the parents of children in the unit?

"Would they be prepared to get on one, two or in some cases three buses, pay taxi fares or face the unenviable task of navigating the Elland bypass in rush hour traffic? I don't think so.

"Why fix something that isn't broken? If it hadn't been for the dedicated staff at Huddersfield I doubt that my three month old son would have seen three days of life.

"So whoever is coming up with these ideas wants think about the lives of newborn children and their parents in Huddersfield and not their bank balance."

* Peter McParland: "On January 14, 1997, my son Oliver Thomas Grant was born 13 weeks prematurely. He remained within special care for almost 13 weeks.

"My son was born very quickly and the minutes following the birth were very crucial to Oliver's survival.

"Immediate special care facilities were available, and because of this I believe my son was given the opportunity to fight for his survival.

"The hours, days, weeks that follow a premature baby's birth are agonising for any parent, and to move services to Halifax I believe would be devastating for the people/families of Huddersfield and surrounding areas.

"The Special Care baby Unit in Huddersfield is a life line for premature babies and specialist baby requirements and the closure of it would be devastating to the people of Huddersfield and nearby surrounding areas."

* Mary Moss: "I was one of the very fortunate mums who had the dedicated staff of HRI looking after me before and after the arrival of my baby.

"Due to very high blood pressure I had been admitted to hospital about 10 weeks before my baby was due. As a first time mum I was terrified!

"My baby was delivered at 36 weeks by emergency section and although she was a healthy 3lb 8oz baby I was very poorly.

If she had been at Halifax I cannot imagine what our recovery period would have been!

"I went on to join the Special Baby Care Unit Group raising funds for much needed equipment and still feel that this service is needed as much now as it was 10 years ago.

Please keep SCBU in Huddersfield."