BCP Council is holding a planning meeting on Thursday about closing Poole A&E, maternity and paediatrics and centralising all of these at Bournemouth Hospital. These plans will close 245 acute beds plus dozens of rehabilitation beds in community hospitals.

Why the council and the clinical commissioning group (CCG) should be doing this in the midst of a pandemic is a mystery to me.

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We know already that the closure of Poole A&E and maternity will cost lives, because Purbeck residents will be unable to access the centralised A&E within the CCG’s own recommended time of 30-45 minutes for acute strokes, major trauma and maternity emergencies.

The new plans will also maximise congestion across Poole and Bournemouth, since Bournemouth Hospital is poorly served by public transport. And if patients prefer to come by car because of Covid, then they won’t be able to use the handy spur road connecting via the A338 – because that road is not going to be built.

All this while BCP flaunts its green credentials and promises to go carbon neutral by 2030.

Really, you couldn’t make it up!

SARAH EARLY

Salisbury Road, Swanage