THE MOTHER of a youngster born with a serious heart condition said her son’s ‘life would be at risk’ from proposed changes to children’s services at Dorset County Hospital.

Angela Miah has become the latest parent to back efforts to protect the hospital’s Kingfisher Ward.

Her 18-month-old son Reuben suffers from the serious heart condition Tetralogy of Fallot and Cornelia de Lange Syndrome.

He has spent much of his early life in hospital and needs to be fed by tube.

The family, from Athelhampton, has expressed concerns at proposals being put forward by the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) that could see services provided by the Dorchester hospital’s Kingfisher Ward transferred to Poole or Bournemouth.

Mum Angela said: “We spend a huge amount of time either in Kingfisher or Southampton Hospital.

“There have been a couple of times when he has not been breathing when we have been on the way to hospital and if we had to go to Bournemouth rather than Dorchester there is no way we could have made it.”

Angela said Reuben often spends up to three weeks at the Kingfisher Ward and she has given up work because of the number of appointments she has to attend with him.

She said that the family may not be left with any option but to relocate if the services currently provided in Dorchester are moved to the other side of the county, as they need to be close to the care he so desperately needs.

Angela said: “We would probably have to move closer to Bournemouth if it happened.”

She added that she did understand the need for the health service to make changes to some services but said it did not make any sense for services in Dorchester to move all the way across to Poole or Bournemouth. She said it would make more sense if services in the east of the county merged.

She added: “Particularly for Reuben it would put his life at risk because he’s a very complex child and everybody at Kingfisher knows him.”

Angela, 39, also has three other children aged between four and 10 and the family has previously helped to raise funds for refurbishment of the Kingfisher Ward.