TWO NHS trusts are set to go head-to-head as they both vie to become Dorset’s ‘major emergency hospital’.

The Daily Echo will be featuring interviews later this week with the chief executives of Poole Hospital and Royal Bournemouth Hospital after both declared they believe their facility should take on the added responsibility.

It comes after a radical proposal to transform the way emergency care is delivered in Dorset was given the go-ahead following a county-wide review.

That decision will mean one of the sites undergoing expansion to become the county’s main hub for acute services.

The other will become the ‘major planned hospital’ focusing on treating patients who require scheduled operations, as well as offering an urgent care centre run by GPs and nurse practitioners.

Dr Forbes Watson, chair of Dorset’s Clinical Commissioning Group, said the changes are needed to improve the standard of care.

“Doing nothing is not an option because the way we currently deliver care in Dorset isn’t as good as it should be and isn’t sustainable in light of changing and increasing needs from our growing and ageing population, and we have a shortage of specialist staff available for some services,” he said.

“The proposals have been led by local clinicians and their discussions and ideas shared at every stage with NHS staff, patients, carers and members of the public.”

Debbie Fleming, Poole Hospital’s chief executive, and her counterpart at Bournemouth, Tony Spotswood, have welcomed the planned changes – with both eager for their trusts to work closer together after the Competition Commission scotched their merger plans in 2013.

The hospitals both currently have emergency departments, with Poole Hospital designated east Dorset’s major trauma centre following a review of care in the 1990s.

However, both now admit they will be trying to convince the CCG to favour their hospital when the decision is made next spring.

The changes could be implemented within five years.