Health campaigners say they 'won't be silenced' as they join forces to protest healthcare chiefs' decision on changes to healthcare provision.

Last week, Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (DCCG) announced plans for the future of Acute and Mental health care in Dorset.

But health campaign groups say that the Clinical Services Review and the consultation process were deeply flawed and it was necessary to keep pushing forward.

After a successful campaign, health bosses announced on September 13, Dorset County Hospital (DCH) will remain as both an emergency and planned site and conceding a maternity and paediatrics unit should now remain for patients in the west of the county instead of centralising services in the east.

However, Dorset Health Campaigns Together, a union of several campaign groups in the county, believe full services should be kept at both DCH and Yeovil Hospital and are urging members of the public to join their protest.

Claudia Sorin of Dorset Health Campaign said: “We’ve joined forces with other Dorset health campaigns to raise awareness about what DCCG are planning and to try to stop the closure of wards and loss of beds.

"DCH are going to cut 22 beds this month and there will be further loss of beds, over 100, as a result of the Clinical Review, across Dorset.”

She added the closure of beds was putting people in a very dangerous situation.

Dorset Health Campaigns Together, also includes Keep Our NHS Public Dorset, Save Our Beds Shaftesbury and Save Poole Hospital A&E and Maternity.

One of the concerns raised by the campaign is how the consultation process was conducted and how the responses were reported.

The group say over 75,000 signatures on petitions have not been taken into account and travel times used in the review were hugely underestimated and a recent travel report by South West Ambulance Service shows some emergency journeys will take longer.

Naomi Patterson of Save Kingfisher and Maternity at DCH said: “How can the DCCG think it’s ok for journey times to be longer for some just because they will be shorter for others?”

Claudia Sorin said that campaigners have submitted questions to the CCG including one about their report on Equal Access to healthcare.

She said: “It appears that the equalities report has not included any detailed analysis of how groups such as disabled people, those on low income and young mums will be impacted by the proposals.”

Cllr Ros Kayes, vice chair of the Joint Health Scrutiny Committee which will consider the proposals said both Healthwatch and the Joint Scrutiny Committee had raised questions about the impact of the proposals on vulnerable people due to transport cuts.

Dorset Health Campaigns Together are urging the public to join them for a protest outside the DCCG’s public meeting to discuss the response to the Clinical Services Review at the Dorford Centre, Dorchester on September 20 at 10am.

Claudia said: “The more people who turn up, the stronger our voices will be.”

A spokesperson from NHS Dorset CCG said: “Any decisions that may be made by the Governing Body on September 20 are the culmination of hundreds of hours of work from local NHS staff, clinicians and members of the public and would fully take into account the feedback we received during the public consultation.

"We recognise that some people may have concerns and not everyone will agree with the proposals, however, as we have said before, doing nothing is not an option if we want to secure a safe and sustainable NHS for the people of Dorset.