Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Although I haven't heard directly from anyone, I did hear on the local news yesterday evening that a decision has been made about birthing units at Dover and Canterbury.
There will be NO births at Dover and Canterbury. I know that some poeple on here said they wouldn't bother attending the consultations and so the ones held in Dover were very poorly attended (19 at one of them) and so it became a self-fulling prophecy
Perhaps now that that decision has been made, they can go ahead and finalise the plans for our new hospital ?
Roger
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
ROGER;
Not a good decision for Dover, but suppose Dwe can only hope for the future of buckland hospital or wherever facilities end up.
All the political parties have let Dover down on this issue
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
mark has put a link with the full story on the "baby born on ferry" thread.
no surprise with the decision though.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
another nail in dovers coffin.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
seems that way brian
sadly
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
This makes my stomach turn mark my words lives WILL BE LOST .
So let me sum this up , we live in one of the busiest shipping ports , with no A&E no birthing center yet may i add i know several times of whh being closed to labouring mums to be , then its off the qeqm, what a stupid decision , and an even bigger stupid decision in the first place to completely downgrade the hospital in the first place ive my own reasons being one as you all know my high risk pregnancy i had with my son this year if i had gone into labour at home we wouldnt of made it, my daughter had to be treated with adrenalin few years back on the m20 on way to whh as she stopped breathing during a near fatel asthma attack and more recently monday 24th i was rushed to whh due to a secondary pph again i repeat if we had a fully working hospital within reach these things maybe wouldnt of got so serious in the first place.
Guest 745- Registered: 27 Mar 2012
- Posts: 3,370
Having a baby is very easy these days mel ,theirs a big unit in Ashford .
Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
This is, very sadly, not a surprise as the last "public" meeting was at great pains to extol the savings they would make if they did not have to bother with a birthing unit. The big lie was that people had "voted with their feet" to use Ashford or Margate (despite not being given much choice in the matter).
What we will now get is a glorified consulting room with very little more than the newer doctors surgeries. This means the busiest port in the country had better not have an accident in bad weather or we will see the spectacle of injured people in ambulances (or if possible a helicopter) negotiating a blocked motorway system to be dispersed around the country. If we suffer a major "incident" the press will have a field day and, quite rightly, shower abuse on Dover's lack of foresight.
For the average family it will mean more days spent travelling in order to see relatives and friends in hospital (with more working days lost) all at a cost. The only positive is that some might get to see their consultants in Dover, if they can fit in an appointment on the days they are in Dover rather than one of the real hospitals.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
Terry Nunn
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,318
So here's a scenario, a home birth is organised but there are complications and an ambulance is called. Birth takes place en route to the WHH.
Is the place of birth on the certificate recorded as the M20?
Terry
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
and to add to comments from mel, chris and terry - what happens if the port is suddenly closed and an expectant mum with a difficult pregnancy has to get to ashford?
already with the ambulances you can expect to wait on monday i waited just over ten minutes for it and that was blue light to me
Guest 656- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,262
Gawd! as Brian says above 'another nail in Dover's coffin, my stomach is turning too Mel
Guest 716- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 4,010
We really do need a `proper`Hospital in Dover.This decision takes £ Four million out of the £ twenty million promised for
our `Hospital`which is now becoming a `polyclinic`.All the consultations as we all know are a waste of time,nobody listens
to the people.The two Rally`s have been completely ignored.We now need Charlie to act on behalf of the people of Dover.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i think the chance has gone now, been too quiet since the rally.
at one stage charlie could not stop bringing up the hospital every time he was on the box irrespective of the topic under discussion, very quiet now.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
very quiet on a range of subjects howard
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Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
One other point that the last "consultation" made very clear was that there would be no point in hoping for expansion once they had got approval and built their new polyclinic. The new build would be on the existing car park and, once built, the rest of the site will be sold off for development. Instead of calling for them to get on with it, which they want to do, we should be demanding a major reconsideration of the whole project, which they do not want to do. Better to fight on for a couple more years and get the hospital Dover needs than to let them build a polyclinic that we will be stuck with for the next fifty. Once agreed any other possible sites will be reassigned for alternate developments.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I doubt it could be "future-proofed" at the Buckland location, so what we get is what we have - forever.
I don't want to start the whole debate up again about where it should be as that didn't really get us anywhere, other than the worst possible location.
We were always told that whatever facilities we have at Buckland, there will be new ones and more, at the new hospital.
Dover District Council sent a very strong, robust letter saying we should keep birthing units there - and the reasons, but with very little support from the local people (through lack of attendances at the consultation meetings, because many people made the comment, or had the feeling, about it being a done deal), they (the PCT decision-makers) took the view that it wasn't that important to the majority of people of Dover and so have made the decision and stopped them - at Canterbury too.
I'm sure there are a lot of angry people in Canterbury.
Roger
Guest 716- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 4,010
# 18 Totally agree Chris we do need a rethink on a `proper hospital and suitable site for future expansion.
# 19 Also agree but consultations have been proven time and time again as being a complete waste of time.People power is
the only chance but the Rally`s have not been big enough to move the authorities.Perhaps Dover gets what Dover deserves??
