Save Swanage Ambulance Car

02/03/2026

Summary of Report to Swanage Town Council 26th January 2026

https://saveswanageambulancecar.org/summary-of-report-to-swanage-town-council-26th-january-2026

I’d like to start by thanking the Town Council for raising these 6 monthly monitoring requests, on the Ambulance Car service, and on Swanage Hospital attendance

25/02/2026

STC have been asking SWAST for information re ambulance car and staffing.
Debbie Monk house told a meeting that staffing had the best rate so far and that emergency response times had improved.

23/06/2025

Sadly Debby Monkhouse has resigned but is hoping to be co-opted onto the Health Services committee at the STC meeting at 7pm this evening, please come along and show your support 🙏

09/06/2025

Ex-Cllr Debby Monkhouse here. I'm posting to let you know that I have resigned from the Town Council. I was first elected in May 2019 because of my work to save the A&E and Maternity departments at Poole Hospital. As we know, in an emergency we have a long way to travel to access care. Following the success of the subsequent Save Our Ambulance Car campaign, I was fortunate to be re elected in May 2024 with the second highest Councillor vote onto what had become a hung Town Council of 6 Conservative, 4 Labour and 2 Independent Councillors.

Over the last year I have launched a campaign to restore the Swanage and Wareham NHS services that have been reduced or withdrawn, and I have enjoyed Chairing the Environment Committee, working with Sustainable Swanage and Planet Purbeck. I have tried to address the issue of sewage spills: according to Wessex Water, in 2024, a wet year, there were 105 spills from 7 outlets, mainly outside the ‘bathing season’, potentially affecting the water quality in Swanage bay on 50 days. Wessex Water plan to address the worst spill outlets, Peveril Marine Tunnel and Durlston, over the next 5 years, but have no plans for the Ulwell Stream outlet, which runs over the beach. As I was not supported to remain as Environment Committee Chair for the coming year, I hope this work will be continued by the new Chair.

As a Town Councillor, I recognise that there are a limited range of functions over which the Town Council has direct control. However, the Town Council can lobby other organisations on issues that are of concern to the community, such as loss of NHS services, sell off of affordable housing, loss of Saturday afternoon library hours, the speed limit on Washpond Lane (still 60mph at High St end), and, indeed, water pollution. I stood on this platform, which I thought would be well supported. However I have not had the support I expected, and I have faced ongoing challenges that I did not expect to face, making it increasingly difficult for me to stand up for the platform that I was elected upon. This has limited what I can achieve on the Town Council, and on a personal level I have found things very difficult. I sincerely hope my successor will have a better experience. The Labour Party will be standing James Mercer for my seat in South Ward. I’d like to take this opportunity to endorse James, he has a great record of serving the community, and I have been working with him on the FareShare larder project for approaching two years.

I hope the Town Council will continue to support the valiant efforts of our community to retain and expand our access to NHS care. During my 6 years on the Town Council I advocated for a Health Working Party to be set up, which I then became the lead Councillor for. The Health Working Party has become the mechanism whereby the Council has lobbied health authorities where services are under threat, and has monitored key services to ensure that they’re not being run down. Going forward, I am keen this work is continued, and I have asked to be co-opted onto the Health Working Party as a resident with particular knowledge and experience in this area. I will continue to work with others, including our MP, Lloyd Hatton, who is committed to the retention and growth of our Community Hospitals.
I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t end with a request for your support for our NHS services!

There’s a petition to Restore Swanage and Wareham NHS services that stands at over 3,000 signatures. Asks include the restoration of chemotherapy and rheumatology outpatients clinics, restoration of Swanage Minor Injuries Unit hours, and full walk in access: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/restore-swanage-and-wareham-nhs-services
Thank you for your support, and best wishes
Debby

In Swanage we are a long way from the major hospitals, we have an older population, public transport is limited and 25% of us have no access to a car. Yet local community hospital services in Swanage (and Wareham) are reducing, beds have been closed, and staff dealing with 111 calls or booking outpa...

21/02/2025

I’d like to thank our ambulance service. I had a severe asthma attack yesterday that I couldn’t break. Martin with the ambulance car came. He was excellent, professional and a stellar sense of humour. We couldn’t break the attack so he got in the ambulance for me to take me to hospital. The two ladies were incredible. We were first on scene of the Harmon’s Cross accident and as I was stable they stopped and cared for them while keeping an eye on me until the fire trucks and other ambulance arrived. Very impressed with the standard of care provided by the three of them. It’s a hard job and they do it compassionately and cheerfully.

17/02/2025

The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is celebrating National Apprenticeship Week by highlighting the valuable contribution apprentices play in helping deliver dedicated patient care across the region.
National Apprenticeship Week runs from Monday 10 to Sunday 16 February and shines a light on the fantastic work being done by employers and apprentices across the country.
SWASFT currently has over 250 apprentices, from paramedic apprentices to cyber security and finance apprentices who help support the operational side of the ambulance service.

01/07/2024

I can verify all Debbie's comments as a campaign member, Richard Drax was no where to be seen at the various meetings that took place,nor involved with fund raising or any of the petitions,if he had any influence I ask him to provide evidence.
He did however make time for the photo opportunities!😕 Thelma

30/06/2024

Cllr Debby Monkhouse here. I feel I have to make a public statement regarding Richard Drax assertion in his election material that 'he tirelessly lobbied to keep the Purbeck Ambulance car viable".
As the leader of the Save Swanage Ambulance car campaign for two years I was unable to even get a public statement supporting retaining the car from Richard Drax.
There are also the following events to consider:
1. In December 2020 Richard met with Swanage Town Cllrs on the Emergency Health Services Working Party, which I lead, to discuss the Ambulance Car. He agreed to meet every 3 months, or more frequently if there was an urgent threat to the Car. In February 2021 the primary care network lead emailed to say "The provision of the Car by SWAST and the. CCG is due to finish in the near future". The Town Council asked to meet Richard Drax urgently, reminding him of his promise to meet 3 monthly, to which he responded 'I prefer to meet 6 monthly'. One of his constituents, Laura Rowan, had to start a petition to try to persuade Richard Drax to talk to the Town Council.
2. In May 2021 Richard Drax wrote to the Town Council saying he had met with Dorset CCG whose preference was to withdraw the Ambulance Car and use the funding to increase the hours of the second Wareham Ambulance. Richard Drax suggested this was a good idea, thereby supporting the withdrawal of the Swanage Ambulance Car, ignoring the fact that an Ambulance, even if it was in Wareham when there was an emergency in Swanage, could not get here in the 7 minutes needed to save life in a category 1 emergency.
3. In March 22. Richard Drax' non involvement in the saving of the car was apparent in his response on hearing it was saved: as reported in Swanage News he said "I nearly fell off my chair".

Swanage is at the end of the Isle of Purbeck peninsula and is a popular holiday destination. With the planned loss of A&E and Maternity from Poole, Swanage will be approaching 30 miles from Bournemouth or Dorset County, with much of the journey on busy single track roads. A freedom of informatio...

20/06/2024

Long emergency journeys put patients at risk:

Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester has been urged to improve its out of hours services after a Wareham woman bled to death following a hip operation.

13/06/2024

Great Swanage News article supporting local NHS services with petition link at end. We'll be outside the Swanage Hospital garden party this saturday from 3-4pm collecting signatures!

Swanage Hospital and Wareham Hospital in Dorset are separately holding events and asking everyone to come along and show their support.

11/05/2024

Thank you to the kind people who helped me and called the ambulance at just after one o'clock yesterday when I fell on the pavement near to Budgens. My condition is badly bruised face, broken neck and nose. Many thanks again.

15/04/2024

The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is encouraging people to join their Patient Participation Panel meetings to share their views about the care and service provided to patients and members of the public across the South West region.
For more information about joining the Patient Participation Panel visit - https://www.swast.nhs.uk/patient-participation-panel or email [email protected]