AFTER reading the article in Wednesday's Echo (Aug 16) about A&E journey times, it claimed that times, if the A&E is at the RBH, could be shorter for some - which sounds ludicrous.

It will be no quicker to get there because it is a specialised unit than it ever was before.

Now we have a transport study group set up to plan for non-emergency visits to the RBH, when the whole problem stems from proposed removal of the A&E facility at Poole Hospital, moving lock stock and barrel to the RBH.

The CCG appear to have ignored concerns about the travel times in an emergency from areas of West Dorset at present served by Poole Hospital and seem also to have refused to even listen.

This new transport group which has been set up to study non-emergency transport to my mind fails to address the major problem of emergency ambulances and the traffic delays caused by the volume of traffic in the area.

I would like to ask; how much is this new study going to cost and where is it being funded from?

In Thursday's Bournemouth Echo there is now being launched a recruitment drive to acquire more staff to fill the posts needed to operate the A&E department at the RBH.

So are we to conclude from this that the decision to close Poole A&E department has already been made?

If that is the case and to me it seems this has always been a foregone conclusion and the "public consultation" was a total waste of money and time, both of which might have been better spent on the NHS services, rather than telling the public that their opinion was valuable and would be listened to.

It appears to me that the Dorset CCG members who sit on the panel, whom I imagine are on very good salaries, have a little bit of the gravy train mentality, where they seem to be able to throw money away on pointless consultations and transport groups, when what they plan has already been decided, and whatever the public thinks is of little consequence.

BILL RICHARDS Roberts Road, Poole