CAMPAIGNERS fighting to protect services at Dorset County Hospital are taking to the streets.

Parents have organised a protest march against proposals as part of the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG) clinical services review that could see children with serious illnesses or long term care needs being transferred to hospitals Bournemouth and Poole.

The Echo is backing the mass march as part of its campaign to save Dorset County Hospital’s Kingfisher Ward and Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU).

Naomi Patterson, whose seven-year-old son George suffered from pneumococcal meningitis before his first birthday and still requires regular care for a range of conditions, is one of the parents organising the march on Saturday, June 13.

Protestors will meet at the Top O’Town car park from 11am and head down High West Street and through the town centre before finishing up at Dorchester’s Borough Gardens.

Naomi is calling on all those who are opposed to the plans to join with them and stand up to the CCG.

She said: “Everybody here is upset at the proposals and there has been lots of support for Dorset County Hospital.

“It would be brilliant if all those people could come along.”

Naomi said the campaigners feared that the proposals could impact even deeper than first anticipated, with departments such as the maternity ward also potentially affected by the plans.

She said: “That will affect our children in the future so I think we owe it to them to stand up to these proposals.”

Hospital governor Derek Julian has also raised serious concerns about the CCG proposals.

He said he feared plans to take patients from the west of the county to hospitals in Bournemouth and Poole for treatment for certain conditions could seriously impact on their chances of survival.

Mr Julian said: “For people from Lyme Regis being taken to Bournemouth that’s decreasing their chances of survival.

“It’s shocking that they are driving these services up there.”