A GRANDMOTHER who knows too well the importance of getting a sick child to hospital immediately has described the news of the planned overhaul of Dorset's healthcare as a 'tragedy'.

Denise Kean from Dorchester has backed the Echo's campaign to protect paediatric and baby services at Dorset County Hospital (DCH).

Mrs Kean has looked after her 10-year-old granddaughter, Scarlett Bailey, since she was eight months old.

Scarlett was diagnosed with diabetes when she was just 22 months old.

Mrs Kean, 70, said: "The whole idea is ridiculous.

"There are three children down my street alone who suffer from diabetes.

"If Scarlett is poorly in the night and is sick and can't keep fluids down we have to take her to the hospital straight away so they can get some fluids in her.

"In the past she has been really poorly and it is frightening.

"When she was younger she was in the hospital quite a lot, maybe three times a year.

"Now she is getting older it is getting less but you never know what could happen.

"If it's a dire emergency what am I going to do?

"I don't drive, my husband does but he is 72. We would have to call an ambulance if he wasn't here.

"But what if a lot of other children need the ambulance at the same time and we have to wait?

"If it's a cold winters night and the weather is bad it is going to take us all twice as long to get there which I dread to think about."

Mrs Kean told the Echo that one of the main reasons the family were housed on Wessex Road is because it is so close to DCH and she can get her granddaughter there in less than 30 minutes.

As reported in the Echo, the Clinical Commissioning Group is planning an overhaul of Dorset's healthcare.

Proposals include having a Paediatric Assessment Unit (PAU) at Dorchester with consultants available 16 hours a day.

There would be one neo-natal unit in east Dorset and children with serious or long-term health needs would also need to go to the major hospital in the east of the county for treatment.

Mrs Kean said: "When I showed Scarlett the article in the Echo she was really quite frightened about it all.

"Why build a brand new hospital and then do this?

"Also if children have to stay in overnight and are transferred to the east their friends aren't going to be able to see them and cheer them up, which is sometimes just what they need.

"It's all just adding extra stress to all the families and children.

"The staff at Kingfisher Ward are 100 per cent.

"They are just lovely and we have built a relationship with them over the years.

"When Scarlett has to go in, even just for her bloods, they always remember her and ask how she is getting on."