OKEHAMPTON residents have stepped up calls to bring back round-the-clock care at the local hospital as they turn towards RD&E’s emergency department to avoid long waiting times at Okehampton’s MIU.

Residents are reporting that the MIU (minor injuries unit) at Okehampton Medical Centre is becoming increasingly congested due to the town’s growing population and ever-lengthening ambulance waiting times.

Okehampton resident Douglas Mortimer described how he and his wife waited hours at the MIU before being transferred to the A&E department at RD&E (Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital) after she cut her thumb very badly.

He said it was ‘ridiculous’ that there was no extra medical centre, open out of hours and at weekends, for people in the town to call on in emergencies.

Mr Mortimer said: ‘My wife had to go to Exeter after we waited hours at the minor injuries unit.

‘It’s such a shame. Okehampton has so much going for it. It’s a nice place to live, and the railway is great. It’s a thriving town, and it does have medical facilities, but with the amount of houses being built, it’s ridiculous that there’s no extra medical centre.

‘I go to Chagford Health Centre now as they are more obliging.’

Okehampton town councillor Tony Leech is campaiging for both an MIU and wards to reopen at the hospital. He said he had heard several people telling similar stories.

He said: ‘My sympathies go out to the NHS and the staff. They are doing what they can. I would like the MPs to get behind this, [given] the amount of time people spend having to go all the way to Exeter, wait for hours and hope they will be seen.’

It is understood that problems are arising both because the MIU is overstretched and also because it does not operate at weekends or evenings.

The minor injuries unit at Okehampton Medical Centre is only open from 8.15am to 6pm from Monday to Friday.

Cllr Leech would like to see a return to full services at Okehampton Hospital, which used to host an MIU operating out of hours and as well as two wards with convalescent and maternity beds. The MIU was orignally transferred to Okehampton Medical Centre as a stopgap measure in 2016.

The wards were shut ‘temporarily’ in 2017 but have not reopened, although a number of outreach clinics continue to be run from the hospital.

Cllr Leech has argued will allow patients to be treated closer to home and relieve bed blocking problems at the RD&E. He admitted, though, that it would be a ‘long job’ and could be several years in the making, particularly since MPs are currently focused on resolving the cost of living crisis.

The campaign may have received a bit of a boost, however, as the South Western Ambulance Service is calling for hospitals to provide MUIs to reduce the reliance on an overstretched ambulance system.

This could reduce ambulance waiting times and relieve stress on the already overworked health service as the country comes out of the covid pandemic.

Statistics gathered by the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWAST) which covers Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and the former Avon area, has shown that it has some of the highest handover delays in England.

Data for February 2022 revealed that over 35 per cent of ambulances in the South West were delayed by 30 minutes. This is in contrast to the south of England which reported that less than 15 per cent of its ambulances were delayed by half an hour.

Okehampton’s hospital full maternity service, which was ‘temporarily closed’ due to staff shortages in 2017 but has never reopened. Since then, new mothers still visit Okehampton Hospital for ante-natal and post natal clinics but have to travel to the RD&E to give birth or opt for a home birth. This followed the closure of the convalescent ward.

This was despite a massive outcry from people in Okehampton and the surrounding area, who argued that people should be cared for at their local hospital.

Cllr Leech has appealed to Central Devon MP Mel Stride about the issue.