Christchurch Hospital

You may have seen reports about the public consultation underway at present regarding the future of the Christchurch hospital. It seems to me that there is a little too much emotive rhetoric and not enough common sense. Clearly what we need is an NHS which meet the needs of our community, is sustainable, has the degree of clinical excellence required and is accessible to everyone living in the community who needs it. Should there be advantages which derive from better use of facilities then they should be reviewed in a calm and measured way and delivered to the benefit of Christchurch residents. An operation as big as the NHS must be subject to review and change as by its very nature and business it has to respond and deliver to changing demands. This is compounded by the cost to the taxpayer which again requires constant scrutiny and management. Finally, whilst Bournemouth Hospital management are endeavouring to gain the opinions of the public at large we should at least wait to see what the response is before jumping in with two feet into attack mode. I will wait and see how the consultation is received by the community and give consideration to their views. Listening seems to me to be more important than speaking at this stage.