Lib Dems to fight for North Devon hospital funding

Sir Ed Davey (right) and North Devon MP Ian Roome (centre) speak with staff at North Devon District Hospital

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has been in North Devon to commit his party to fighting for better infrastructure for the district hospital with “every sinew in our body.”

Funding for an upgrade to North Devon District Hospital (NDDH) is uncertain after the government halted a £20bn New Hospital Programme (NHP) whilst it undertakes a review.

The programme was drawn up by the Conservatives in 2019 with 40 hospitals earmarked to be rebuilt by 2030.

Sir Ed said he was "shocked" there had been no expansion to the operating theatres on the Barnstaple site since 1978.

'Ticking time bomb'

He said: "There are some amazing staff at this hospital, some of the best in the country, but they are working in conditions they shouldn’t have to and I just wonder why it’s not been been tackled before."

The hospital needed eight extra theatres to meet capacity and eight new intensive care beds, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

Clinical lead for the Our Future Hospital (OFH) programme at NDDH Professor David Sanders said the hospital served a very different purpose and population than when it was built nearly 50 years ago.

He described the situation as a "ticking time bomb waiting to go off.”

Goverment spending review

Mr Sanders said the next stage is to demolish old residences and build new staff accommodation.

Funds for these two phases is more secure, the LDRS said.

It added staff were waiting to see if the government’s spending review will allocate money to replace the main core infrastructure, including operating theatres, the intensive care unit and a women and children’s health building.