I HAVE read with interest the recent correspondence regarding the proposed changes to hospital services in Dorset.

Most people are rightly very concerned at the potential imminent loss of a number of units, particularly the downgrading of the A&E department at the outstanding Poole Hospital.

With the South Western Ambulance Service experiencing unprecedented demand over Christmas and the new year, this decision, imposed on us by the local Clinical Commissioning Group, will have a life-changing effect on the unfortunate residents and visitors to Purbeck and Poole.

As the CEO of the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals seeks to grow his sprawling empire ever larger, Purbeck and Poole are abandoned to their fate, a postcode lottery.

Meanwhile there are plans for thousands, yes thousands of apartments across Poole, which with the house building bubble here, will bring about the inevitable massive additional pressure on the infrastructure. So none of Mrs May’s joined-up thinking or one society here then.

The NHS Clinical Commissioning Group for Dorset has a consultative process currently under way, asking for the public’s views on the proposed changes.

Ways you can take part and have your say can be found online and I urge everyone to lobby this group, enlisting the help of local councillors, MPs, Mr Hunt the health secretary even, in an attempt to prevent this travesty.

Nothing is more important, for when they’re gone, they’re gone.

MAJOR W MARTIN

(Retd) North Road, Poole

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