[1] From 1947 to 1965 NHS services in Dorset were managed partly by South-West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board and partly by the South-Western Regional Hospital Board, which was responsible for the Lyme Regis area.
[2] In October 2014, Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group launched a major review into the way healthcare is provided across the county.
However campaigners against the changes claim that at least 183 people a year would die as a result of the longer travel time to access emergency treatment.
[9] A judicial review was brought before the high court in September 2018 by the Defend Dorset NHS campaign group, claiming longer travel times for emergency care would risk patient safety; however the High Court judge ruled in favour of the CCG.
A private GP service was established at Poole Road Medical Centre in Bournemouth in 2017 where patients can pay to skip waiting lists to see a doctor.
[14] Macmillan Caring Locally is based in Dorset, supporting cancer patients in the county.
Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for all community and mental health services across the county.
In 2021 it set up a pilot study with Intelligentlilli, using the company's machine learning technology to reduce the frequency of daily visits to newly-discharged patients and enabling people to remain at home rather than go into residential care.
Proposals to merger Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust with The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in order to save money were blocked by the Competition Commission in 2013.
Both trusts said they were "deeply disappointed" and felt the merger was the best option to ensure "high-quality hospital services to local people".
[16] The merger between Bournemouth and Poole was proposed again in 2016 because "the many benefits associated with these Clinical Services Review changes could be achieved more easily under one management structure.”[17] In 2020 it was finally agreed that Poole Hospital A&E department would be downgraded and emergency services concentrated in Bournemouth.