TORIES have launched a fierce local campaign against Government plans to move operations from Dorchester to Bourne-mouth.

Keep Our Operations Local (KOOL) is highly critical of Government plans to centralise major surgeries in urban centres which it says is wrong for patients, wrong for Dorset and wrong financially.

South Dorset Conservative parliamentary spokesman Ed Matts launched the KOOL campaign in Weymouth on Saturday when people were invited to sign a petition calling on the Government to make a concession for rural counties such as Dorset so operations could be kept local at Dorset County Hospital.

Mr Matts said the Government's attempt to centralise treatment away from local populations to larger urban centres gave no thought to patients or to hospitals. He added: "The threat of moving urology and other treatments to Bourne-mouth in the name of central efficiency not only ignores the need for local convenience and patient choice but also the best use of NHS resources."

He emphasised the fact that the average cost of a urological operation for prostate cancer at Dorchester was £563.40, yet the same operation at Bournemouth costs nearly £700, according to the latest available figures for 2003-2004.

Mr Matts said: "On top of that our local Primary Care Trusts will have to pay for patients' additional travel costs which will mean less money for other local health services.

"Centralisation of treatment can perhaps be justified in large urban areas, but it will be expensive and damaging for rural counties like Dorset. That is why we are asking the Government to make a concession for rural counties and Dorset County Hospital which has an excellent reputation for providing quality care due to the hard work of doctors and nurses.

"At the end of the day, the most efficient health service is one that caters fully for the needs of patients rather than bureaucratic convenience. We must keep our operations local."

Shadow Chancellor and West Dorset Tory MP Oliver Letwin said: "The Government thinks it knows best how local people should be treated, but it doesn't.

"Moving treatment to the major cities will create undue stress and problems for local people, and not just the most vulnerable.

"Patients should have the right to choose how and where they are treated. Hospitals should also have the freedom to decide what treatment should be provided locally according to local need and their expertise."