In November 2018, after a year of lobbying from us, Dorset County Council referred the plans to close Poole A&E and Maternity back to Matt Hancock, the Conservative Secretary of State, for Independent Review, due to concerns about the risk to life.
Matt Hancock has since sat on the referral for 6 months, failing to pass it to the Independent Panel.
So when Richard Drax told the Echo that he was meeting Matt Hancock, we thought what an excellent opportunity he would have to do something to help!
We contacted Richard Drax, asking him to speak to Matt Hancock about the dangers of the proposed loss of Poole A&E, Maternity and Children’s units.
Unfortunately, it seems to have slipped his mind. After meeting Matt Hancock, RIchard Drax emailed, not with an update, but to say he had written to Matt Hancock. When he receives a reply, he will let us know…
We have heard nothing since. It is obvious that the Conservative Party has no intention of having the likely consequences of their own cuts scrutinised.
What price Dorset lives?
Yet here in the UK we absolutely can afford a properly funded, publicly provided NHS. The UK is the 5th biggest economy internationally, yet we come only 17th in terms of the amount we spend per head on health care. We dropped from 15th to 17th place between 2014 and 2016. https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm
Debbie Monkhouse
Join me in helping to save a precious health service on our doorstep.
