Hospital closure plan paused after critical report

Campaigners said pressures on NHS hospitals showed beds were needed

The planned closure of a hospital has been paused after objections by campaigners.

Teignmouth Hospital has been under threat of closure with a new health centre planned for the town.

Councillors at Devon County Council’s Health and Scrutiny Committee voted unanimously to start the process of referring the hospital closure to the secretary of state for health.

A report presented to the committee set out concerns about the impact of the planned closure on the community.

The decision to close the hospital was made by health bosses in 2018

The report said it had "not been proven to be demonstrably in the best interests of the health service in the local area".

It also questioned why, with costs rising, "building the health hub was a significantly better option than retaining the hospital".

The decision to close the hospital was made by health bosses in 2018.

Campaigners said current pressures on NHS hospitals in Devon showed beds were needed.

'Waste of money'

David Cox, Devon County Council member for Teignmouth, said: "We’re showing it’s against the interests of Teignmouth residents to close Teignmouth Hospital."

Councillors also voted to request a pause in plans to close a wing of Seaton hospital with a call for more community engagement.

Jess Bailey, who represents Otter Valley on the council, said the wing under discussion was built in 1991 and called for an immediate stop to plans to hand the building back to its landlord, NHS Property Services.

The meeting heard NHS Devon had been paying £300,000 in rent since the wing was made empty in 2017.

After the meeting, Martin Shaw, campaigner against the possible demolition, said: "They’ve highlighted the scandalous waste of £1.8m of public money on an empty wing that could have been used for health services in this period."

NHS Devon did not respond to the decision to refer the Teignmouth Hospital closure to the secretary of state.

Regarding the Seaton Hospital decision NHS Devon said: "We have always been very happy to talk to prospective occupants of the space if they have a financially viable scheme to take it on and we remain so."

League of Friends of Teignmouth Hospital, said the charity had spent more than £2m on the hospital since it opened in 1954 and the hospital "belongs to the people of Teignmouth".

The report to the committee also said there was "potential for interested parties in Teignmouth to buy the site and look to develop it for community benefit if services can no longer continue to be provided".

It cited the example of the Edward Hain Hospital in St Ives which has seen the removal of NHS services but has still been saved to provide health and wellbeing services by the Hospital League of Friends and local businesses and the community.