This story was originally produced and published April 30 by the Portsmouth Herald. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Exeter Hospital patients say they are scrambling for answers about care after recent service cuts and are questioning the benefits of Exeter Health Resources merger with Beth Israel Lahey Health.
Executive Councilor Janet Stevens said the Rockingham County Nursing Home was “panicked” about losing Exeter Hospital’s neurologist amid several cuts to care in September 2024. She said staff feared they would have to transport hundreds of patients to Boston.
“Not an option,” Stevens said during an April 29 public hearing at Exeter’s historic town hall. She addressed the state's Health Care Consumer Protection Advisory Commission, led by Attorney General John Formella, which was gathering community feedback on care since the 2023 merger that ended Exeter Hospital’s status as a local hospital.
Residents who attended the hearing described cuts in 2024 to pediatric dental care, neurology, podiatry and the advanced life support paramedic intercept service. The latter was ultimately taken over by the Plaistow Fire Department with the help of a $2 million grant from Exeter Health Resources.
Continue reading this story at Seacoast Online.
