Many will recall the sign that greeted visitors to the Isle of Wight in East Cowes saying, ‘Island roads are different’.

Well our NHS on the Isle of Wight is also different. Not only has our cottage hospital got to cater for an Isle of Wight population of around 140,000-plus, but this number can double over summer months with the influx of holidaymakers.

Expecting visitors to contact their GPs, or visit pharmacies and St Mary’s Urgent Treatment Centre when both are closed on the weekend and evenings, is unrealistic.

These patients are inevitable going to present at St Mary’s A&E if they require medical care, and our hospital needs to be able to accommodate such demand when it occurs.

Having to call a ‘critical incident’ (CP online, 28-07-22), is a sure sign of failure that lessons simply haven’t, and continue not to be learned, or more critically, professionally addressed.

Three years ago St Mary’s was awarded £48million to make improvements.

A large proportion of this money was given to Portsmouth University Hospital to finance their building programme for additional wards with the idea many Islanders would be treated on the mainland.

The vision made economic and clinical sense. Treating patients in large specialist centres that undertake the same surgical procedures day in, day out is not only efficient but also likely to lead to better clinical outcomes given the specialist expertise staff acquire.

However, having funded Portsmouth University Hospitals expansion programme, are things set to change with the recent announcement that St Mary’s will join a pilot scheme where doctors and surgeons will move towards delivering a wider variety of surgeries locally.

It looks like it’s all change on the Bakerloo Line, with the likelihood St Mary’s intends treating more and more patients in-house rather than sending them, as previously intended, for specialist surgeries on the mainland.

This will obviously place increased pressure on current paired back hospital resources.

The question is, is there enough money left in the £48million pot to expand capacity similar to that on the mainland, or has the Isle of Wight's £48m windfall been spirited away in the direction of mainland partners and consultants?

Perhaps the Isle of Wight NHS Trust would like to explain how they are going to provide the necessary resources and funding to successfully implement this change in policy?

Read more letters sent to the County Press here. Do you have a view on this or any other subject? Send us a letter – under 350 words if possible - to editor@iwcp.co.uk