FEARS have been raised that people could be cut off from medical services if some care is switched to Yeovil - as the future of a key public transport link remains in the balance.

Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is currently holding discussions with Somerset health bosses about possibly moving some paediatric services from Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester to Yeovil as part of the clinical services review.

But the only Saturday bus between Bridport and Yeovil ran for the last time on Saturday, after being axed by Dorset County Council (DCC). The county council has not yet committed to a permanent replacement for the 40 service any day of the week, beyond September.

Dorset CCG’s consultation document on the proposed clinical services review stated: “We want everyone to have the highest quality of care wherever they live and whatever time of the week, day or night.”

Campaigner Carolyn Emett joined more than 30 passengers in Bridport on Saturday to wave goodbye to the 40 service, previously run by Damory.

She said: “There is no other public transport service that links Yeovil and Crewkerne to Beaminster and Bridport, and the campaigners feel that more joined up thinking is needed on public transport, not less.

“They have come up with the idea of the temporary Saturday service - it’s great that it’s being offered, but it is completely inadequate. The bus will not run early or late for working people, it will not go to Crewkerne or Yeovil, and it will not run to Bridport Hospital, Netherbury or Court Orchard either.

“Many vulnerable people – old, young, disabled, and the many people on low incomes in this rurally isolated area – depend on the service.”

Bridport and Lyme Regis News:

Tim Goodson, chief officer of Dorset CCG, said there could be a “tie up” between services in Dorchester and Yeovil.

He said: “At the moment they both have consultant led maternity and they both have overnight children’s - so you would specialise on one of the sites rather than two sites.”

He added: “We’ve been hearing concerns on that not just through the consultation but with outside groups such as the Kingfisher group and other and we understand what they’re saying that ‘we don’t want to travel further, we want these things at our local acute hospital’ but the difficult decision is we don’t think that is sustainable.”

Bridport councillor Ros Kayes, who sits on the county council’s joint health scrutiny committee, said: “If the paediatric and maternity wards from Dorchester are moved to Yeovil as part of the clinical services review, then not having this route available for public use would be an absolute disaster - that’s quite aside from the students, workers and shoppers who use it daily. ‎ “The county councils in both Dorset and Somerset have an absolute duty to keep it going.”

Chris Hook, Dorset County Council travel service manager, said: “Dorset County Council is providing the service 40 on a temporary basis while operators consider all of the patronage this corridor offers.

!This temporary step in by the council provides operators time to understand the needs of the community balanced with the financial needs of a bus operation. The corridor forms part of the core Dorset travel network linking main urban centres which is part of the Passenger Transport Strategy and we will seek options to continue this route.

"First have registered the school bus as part of the option and we are expecting an announcement in the coming weeks for a longer term solution.

“While DCC is providing the Monday-Friday timetable, we won’t subsidise Saturday services. The community are developing more solutions for this issue. In the short term Beaminster and Bridport town council, through the community transport fund, can use one of our adult service vehicles for five hours to provide a service on this day.”