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  Attendance at the last PR exercise was fairly strictly controlled, invitations only going to members of the trust and the numbers of their guests being carefully checked. The answers were well rehearsed and the whole thing was designed to try and show that it was all in the public interest. There is to be a "consultation" on birthing services on 1st December 2011 at The Ark, Noahs Ark Road between 12:00 and 14:00 (that should keep out all those with jobs, children, homes to care for etc.). Interestingly this meeting is referred to as a "roadshow" in the consultation brief document. It is also worth noting that the NHS Trust list their preferred option as being services at Ashford and Margate with 'some' anti natal care at Buckland and Folkestone.
  
  Every one of the presentations has concentrated on trying to show that Dover does not need a hospital because of access to consultants, provision of health care or other factors relating to the financing of one. As evidence they always try and show it as a choice made by Dovorians to go elsewhere when services here are cut.
  
  All mention of the simple travelling logistics is avoided. With operation stack in place I have known it take two and a half hours for an ambulance to get through to answer a call for chronic chest pains. It is a fact that, in Dover, if the weather is such that the helicopter cannot fly we are almost certain to have blockages on the roads because of delays in the port. Not to mention the cost and time involved in Dover families being able to get to Ashford or Margate just to be able to see those in hospital. All these are factors that directly impact on patients health and yet are being ignored by the NHS Trust planners.
  
  A well attended and well publicised rally is the best option to get the message across that a hospital for Dover is the only option for anyone genuinely interested in the well-being of local residents and visitors.

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