A SOUTH Western Ambulance Service report on the impact of the county's proposed health care shake-up has highlighted some worrying cases.

The 33-page document, which was prepared using operational modelling based on data from a four-month period last year, suggests overall average journey times to hospital will increase by one minute for adult patients, but decrease by one minute for both maternity and child patients.

While the report was careful to stress "no model can predict the future, it can only consider the potential impact of the Dorset Clinical Services Review on historical data," it did highlight a number of potential cases where increased ambulance travel times could have endangered lives.

Under the proposed shake-up, revealed by Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in 2017 as part of a strategy to address a projected £158 million-a-year funding shortfall, Poole Hospital will lose its A&E and maternity departments, in favour of expanded centres at Royal Bournemouth Hospital

The latest ambulance report compared data on current emergency responses and hospital transfers, against the proposed changes. It included a review of patients who may have to travel further to hospital.

"The key assumption made in the modelling," explained the document, "was that patients would be conveyed to the hospital that was closest to the incident and could manage their presentation."

Under these conditions, the ambulance trust identified three maternity cases and four paediatric cases where they would have had concerns about the impact of longer journey times. Likewise, the report identified 696 cases of concern about adult patients, of which 150 were scrutinised in detail.

From these 150 adult cases, the trust identified 27 cases they were particularly concerned about.

Of these cases, the report suggested: "It is proposed that each emergency case is reviewed by the South Western Ambulance Service Trust Acute Care Medical Director (Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Critical Care) to review the potential additional clinical risk."

However, the report also stressed the model used "can only establish the impact of the proposed CSR changes, should they have occurred during the sample period."

As part of the overall CSR, more specialised hubs would be developed at both Bournemouth and Poole hospitals, with Poole Hospital becoming a 'major planned care' centre.

The ambulance service's report included a review of patients who may have to travel further to hospital.