A DEVASTATED mother has spoken out following the closure of a popular weekend drop in health centre.

Rebecca Burns, 34, from St Leonards near Ringwood, turned up at the Boscombe and Springbourne Health Centre on Sunday afternoon with her three-year-old son Robin when he became unwell with scarlet fever.

The mother of two said she was shocked when she heard that the centre would be closing its doors for good later that evening due to the costs of running the service.

She said: "I think it is a tragedy because there is nowhere else you can go after hours in this area. It will just put more pressure on the emergency services.

"I have two young children aged three and five and we have used the centre several times over the past few years. I just wish I had known it was closing because I would have set up a petition as I'm sure there must be many other people who feel the same way."

The drop in centre deals with urgent cases from all over Bournemouth and Poole on Saturdays and Sundays.

Staff who are employed by a company called New Wave, were handed their redundancy notices earlier this month.

The possible closure of the centre was revealed by the Daily Echo last month.

At the time, Forbes Watson, chair of the NHS Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group which commissions the service, said he hoped to reach an agreement with the provider of the facility.

It is thought around 150 people use the walk in centre every weekend, either referred by the NHS 111 service or by word of mouth.

There is usually one doctor, a nurse practitioner and support staff on duty. It operates from the same building in Palmerston Road as the Crescent Surgery which opens from Monday to Friday and will not be affected by the closure of the clinic.