“This feels totally wrong.”
Those are the words of governors from Poole Hospital who have filed a damning response to health bosses over their controversial plans to shake up health services in Dorset.
They say the ‘once in a lifetime decision’ is down to minutes and money and ignores what residents really care about.
In the highly-charged and critical reply to Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG) Clinical Services Review (CSR) preferred proposals, which include making Royal Bournemouth Hospital the county’s major emergency centre with Poole Hospital for planned care, members of the council of hospital governors list out major concerns.
They say moving care closer to home and saving money by reducing ‘nearly 300 acute hospital beds (based on CSR demand projections’ may work.
However they call for guaranteed investments in place ‘before any acute hospital beds are closed’, expressing concerns no significant investments ‘will ever be made.’
The response lists reasons why the council of governors believe Poole should be the major emergency hospital including:
*Concerns over poor access such as the ability of the ambulance service ‘to cope’ without more investment in ambulances and staff to guarantee patients arrive at RBH ‘safely’ as well as doubts that projected travel times ‘realistically take into account the very busy summer and peak time traffic in Poole and Bournemouth’
Full story in The Bournemouth Daily Echo, 20 March 2017