Serious concerns have been raised about poor ambulance response times to residents in the more remote parts of Dorset.

County councillors used their last meeting to detail several examples of slow ambulance responses to emergency calls.

Weymouth councillor and GP Jon Orrell said he had dealt with several cases in recent months where response times to an emergency call from him resulted in waits of between an hour and three hours.

The council also heard of a woman who fell in Swanage at 10am and was not picked up by an ambulance until several hours later.

The meeting also heard concerns over the future of Poole A&E and plans to take the most critical cases to Bournemouth Hospital.

Cllr Beryl Ezzard said it was unacceptable that it had taken more than six months to get a response about changes to A&E services locally from the Secretary of State.

“How can we get some answers...lots of local people are very concerned about this and want an answer,” she said.

Cllr Jill Haynes said there has been a lot of misinformation about what was happening which had unsettled people. She said there would still be an A&E at Poole offering treatment to the majority of people who, typically, were able to get themselves to the department.

“And that will continue on a 24-hour a day basis, but urgent emergencies, depending on what they are will go to Bournemouth,” she said. Dorchester A&E would be in a similar situation.

Weymouth councillor Kate Wheller said that with slow ambulance response times and then a potential long drive, those who live in more remote parts of the county would stand less chance of survival.

“It’s what the TV adverts tell us – that time is of the essence.” she said.

Swanage councillor Bill Trite said he feared for those needing treatment in Purbeck and other remote parts of the county were being doubly disadvantaged with ambulances slow to get to calls and then, depending on the case, taking longer to get to hospital if they had to travel to Bournemouth, especially in the summer.

He told the council of a woman who collapsed in Swanage around 10am and was not picked up by an ambulance until several hours later.

“You can understand the concern people have. There hasn’t been a satisfactory answer, probably because there isn’t a

satisfactory answer we can be given,” he said.

Dr Orrell said he could understand why the NHS managers wanted to create specialist centres: “It’s good for the NHS but not for our residents in Purbeck, Portland and West Dorset,” he said. “The NHS has many qualities but it lacks effective democratic control.”

'Very high levels of demand'

A South Western Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We are the most rural ambulance service in England, and we continue to see very high levels of demand on us from the public. As such we absolutely recognise the significant challenge of reaching our rural communities in the required response times with our limited resources.

“We are committed to responding to our most seriously ill and injured patients as quickly as possible wherever they are located. However, we accept that it is not always possible to reach patients living in rural areas in the same time as those in an urban area.

“This is not a new issue, and we’ve been working hard for many years to enhance the quality of care provided to patients in rural areas, particularly with the invaluable assistance of volunteer community first responders who can provide life-saving treatment for patients prior to the arrival of ambulance crews.

“The difficulty for us remains that, where a small population is dispersed over a wide geographical area with low 999 activity levels, it is hard to predict where the next emergency call will be and where a resource is best-placed to respond. We will continue to make every effort to ensure the quality of service received by all patients is of the highest calibre.”