Campaigners have refused to give up their fight against maternity cuts even though health bosses pushed through plans to downgrade a hospital.

East Sussex Downs and Weald and Hastings and Rother Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) today gave the go ahead for consultant-led maternity services at Eastbourne District General Hospital to be downgraded to a midwifery-led unit.

The Conquest Hospital in St Leonards will continue to keep its full consultant services and a special care baby unit will also be based there.

Opponents who fought to keep full services at both hospitals are considering taking legal action against the decision.

And tonight they demanded the resignations of the boards responsible for making the controversial move.

Tens of thousands of people signed petitions, held meetings and went on marches during a public consultation on the proposals held during the summer.

The joint board meeting at Uckfield Civic Centre lasted for more than three hours as members debated the recommendation put forward by PCTs chief executive Nick Yeo to come down in favour of the Conquest.

Members were heckled by campaigners throughout and at one stage chairman Charles Everett warned the meeting would be held in private if the disruptions continued.

Campaigners held banners and placards with words and phrases including "Sham", "This is a farce", "Babies will die" and "Hands off maternity".

Liz Walke, from the Save the DGH campaign, said: "The whole thing has been a farce and a sham.

"We are disappointed and disgusted with what has happened here and we intend to do everything we can to fight it all the way.

"We are backing the call for the resignations that came from Eastbourne MP Nigel Waterson at the meeting because we believe people have been badly let down.

"The opinions, views and evidence of thousands of campaigners, including medics and midwives, have been ignored."

Margaret Williams, from the Hands Off the Conquest campaign, said: "Although the Conquest appears to be benefiting from this decision we believe this whole thing is a disgrace.

"Our campaigns have been united through this whole fight and we continue to be united.

"We will certainly be looking at the possibility of a judicial review into the whole process because we believe there are flaws.

"That 20 mile journey between Eastbourne and Hastings can take a very long time and the transport links are not good.

"Lives are going to be lost if mothers have to travel so much further for urgent treatment."

Wealden MP Charles Hendry said: "I am very disappointed but I want to reassure people that they should not assume this is the end of the matter.

"The board mentioned that Hastings was chosen as the site over Eastbourne because it had more areas of deprivation.

"It seems a sad state of affairs that in the 21st Century a hospital can only keep its services at the expense of another."

Eastbourne Conservative MP Nigel Waterson said: "It's very depressing, if not surprising.

"We knew that NHS bosses have wanted to do this for over a year now and the whole meeting left a very bad taste in the mouth.

"The reality behind this decision is that in a few cases, the NHS is willing to take more risks than there are at the moment and that is unacceptable.

"We have two perfectly safe maternity units run in Eastbourne and Hastings at the moment and nobody has made a case for closing one of them.

"The result is my constituents are going to be less served and have less choice as to where they have their babies."

He added the campaign is considering a legal challenge and said: "The fight isn't over as far as we are concerned."

Lewes Lib Dem MP Norman Baker said: "It's completely the wrong decision which flies in the face of public opinion.

"A consultation exercise was launched and a response came in which was totally ignored. The fact the strategic health authority held its meeting before the PCT meeting had finished shows the whole thing was stitched up in advance.

""It leaves people having to travel too long to get to the nearest maternity unit."

Asked whether or not the board should resign, he said; "I'm sure the board have to answer to their own conscience but it underlines the need for a democratic process."

As well as developing services at St Leonards, the PCT board members decided to develop more community outreach services such as health visiting and community midwifery and said they would ensure that ambulance crews receive training in advanced obstetric life support.

PCTs chief executive Mr Yeo said: "When they are implemented I believe these decisions will offer a safer service for the women of East Sussex.

"I also believe it will make the recruitment of high quality clinicians much easier because they will want to work in an environment where they see a varied mix of cases and where their skills will be used to the full."

Mr Yeo said the Royal College of Gynaecologists recently said it would be very hard for a unit delivering under 2000 births a year to offer adequate training opportunities for junior doctors and enough complex cases for more senior staff to maintain their skills.

At present neither Hastings nor Eastbourne deliver 2000 babies a year.

A single site for consultant-led maternity services will improve service reliability and reduce the prospect of unplanned maternity unit closures.

Mr Yeo said: "There are almost four times as many deprived women of child bearing age resident in the Conquest catchment area compared with the Eastbourne DGH and there is much evidence that women from deprived communities are more likely to have a baby that is premature or of low birth weight.

"Siting the consultant-led unit at Hastings will help us ensure that both Hastings and Eastbourne remain viable hospitals in the years ahead."

Michael Foster, the Labour MP for Hastings and Rye, said the decision would secure the future of the Conquest.

He said: "I'm delighted the decision has been made as up until today there was always uncertainty.

"I have looked at the medical advice put forward by the PCTs and it was clearly overwhelming that not only there should be a single maternity unit but also one that was at Hastings.

"Obviously I'm sorry for those people in Eastbourne who will probably have to travel further but I'm convinced that what is now being proposed is a significantly enhanced service."

The decision has sparked fears that extra pressure will be put on the already busy maternity unit at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

At the moment around 50 women and babies with complex needs are referred to the Royal Sussex each year but this number could double when services are downgraded at Eastbourne.

Managers at the Royal Sussex say they are working to expand their facilities and will be able to cope with the changes.

The future of consultant led maternity services at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath is also uncertain as it has been part of a separate consultation run by West Sussex Primary Care Trust this summer.

That has put services such as maternity and accident and emergency at risk in Haywards Heath, Worthing Hospital and St Richard's Hospital in Chichester.

A decision on the future of those services will be taken next year.

West Worthing Conservative MP Peter Bottomley, who backs the Keep Worthing and Southlands Hospitals Campaign, said: "For reasons which are always incomprehensible the strategic health authorities and the PCTs have failed to give anyone confidence that what they are doing is justified or that the process is fair.

"If they cannot convince the clinicians, they will certainly not convince the public."