AN angry Liss mother has lashed out at hospital chiefs after claiming the latest health care cuts have left her without a health visitor. And in the same week a Petersfield woman has complained that her elderly mother has lost her community nurse. These further health service cuts come hard on the heels of a massive outcry over the temporary closure of The Grange Birthing Centre in Petersfield. And as The Herald went to press, East Hampshire MP Michael Mates said the health service in East Hampshire appeared to be in a dire situation. He told The Herald he was holding a meeting with health chiefs in Portsmouth in an effort to find out what was going wrong. In addition, Mr Mates said he believed staff over 65 years old were being axed at Petersfield Hospital because they would not have to be paid redundancy money. This, he said, would place an extra burden on the remaining workforce. Rachel Wellstead, who wanted to have her child in The Grange, gave birth to her son Leo at her Liss home three weeks early, just two months ago. "My health visitor has been an invaluable help to me since the early arrival of my son. She has been very supportive and helped me through the worst of my anxieties." In a strongly worded letter to the health authority this week Mrs Wellstead said: "We are beginning to feel as if we do not matter at all to the primary care trust." "Our midwives are so understaffed that they are coming less and less frequently and are discharging people as soon as possible and now you are taking away our excellent health visitor." She said she believed that the health visitor covering Petersfield would now be covering the Liss area too. "Surely one person cannot be expected to stretch themselves so thinly? People are bound to slip through the net as they are seen less often and the support of a health visitor is invaluable, especially for first-time mothers like myself." Mrs Wellstead said she was also concerned about the future of the weekly drop-in at the Triangle Centre in Liss. "No doubt you will drop that too and expect us to travel to Petersfield. Clearly we and our children are not important to you or your bosses. Please bear in mind that not all of Liss mothers are fortunate enough to have cars." Also this week, a Petersfield woman has voiced her concern over the loss of one of Petersfield's two community nurses. On Monday her mother received a letter informing her that her nurse, Sheila Howes, was moving to Hayling Island, and she would be looked after by the remaining community nurse, Jane White. The woman, who did not wish to be named, told The Herald: "My mother has been helped by Sheila for almost two years. She knows my mother and her case history and my mother has been unsettled by her loss as she doesn't know the new community nurse from Adam. This appears to be another example of cost cutting in the health service at the expense of the quality of people's lives." The Grange birthing centre closed at short notice in July, due, according to the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, to staff shortages caused by maternity leave and long term sickness. Although 12 new student midwives have since been appointed, no promises have been made by NHS bosses, with only an indication of March offered as a possible date for reopening. And last month East Hampshire MP Michael Mates accused health chiefs of "deception and dissembling" over The Grange closure. He challenged them to come clean about their financial problems. After a meeting with health service officers Save the Grange campaigners came away claiming the goalposts had been moved and the story about the reasons for closure had changed, with new financial issues being blamed. A spokeswoman for the East Hampshire Primary Care Trust said officers were investigating Mrs Wellstead's complaint and and would be able to make a full comment in time for next week's edition of The Herald. Mr Mates said: "The scene is going rapidly downhill. From assurances only four months ago at a public meeting, that there was no question of cost - that the closure of The Grange was all to do with safety - they now acknowledge they can't reopen The Grange, the health visitor has gone from Liss and also staff are being dismissed at Petersfield Hospital simply because they don't have to pay them redundancy money because of their age." "The scene is dire. I have written to the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust and they have asked to see me. I shall do this in the coming days and try to get a full explanation as to just what is going on."
