FRESH concerns have been raised over the loss of vital NHS services at Portland Community Hospital.

As reported, the island’s minor injuries unit (MIU) and X-ray facility have been closed since the pandemic due to ongoing staff shortages, after staff were redeployed to support other hospitals around the county. In 2018 all beds were cut from the hospital.

Portland councillor Paul Kimber raised the issue at a Dorset Council meeting, calling for Portland minor injuries unit to reopen. Part of the council’s response was to call on support from south Dorset MP Richard Drax.

Mr Drax has since written to Cllr Kimber to express sympathy over the hospital cuts, but has said he cannot make any promises regarding Portland Hospital.

However his response has been met with concern – Cllr Kimber believes the MP should be doing more to support the community in the face of NHS cuts in Portland and Weymouth, and remains concerned that Government funding for NHS care in Dorset is weighted to the east of the county.

In his letter, Richard Drax wrote: “I am a supporter of local care and am keen to retain Portland’s facility… having spoken at length with Dorset HealthCare CEO Dawn Dawson, I understand that she told the meeting she would be engaging with islanders this spring about the provision of a same-day urgent care service.

“Having said that there are no plans to reintroduce beds at the hospital or a fully-staffed MIU. As you know, resources have been ploughed into Weymouth Hospital to ensure a full service there.

“I appreciate that is not Portland and that some islanders find it hard and expensive to get there. I have another meeting with the bus company to see if they can improve services to the hospital.

“As you know, I am not frightened to rattle cages and will, of course, continue to push for more resources for South Dorset and Portland, but I won’t promise things I simply cannot deliver.”

But Cllr Kimber said it is a “disgrace” to have a hospital ward empty on Portland when patients are left “bed blocking” at DCH and want to get back to the island.

“It is for Richard Drax, as representative of the local community to take action and call for more funding,” he said.

“It is his Government that is responsible for the NHS being decimated through rounds of cuts over past decades. South Dorset is his area – people are, quite frankly, going to die as a result of the ongoing cuts to local hospitals and other NHS services. We want our MP to do something to get this hospital opened. If anyone can call for funding it is him.

“Minor Injuries Units have been opened up right through Dorset to serve various communities in the county. We keep being given the same excuse, that they can’t get the staff for Portland, but I just don’t buy it any more.”