The future of Okehampton Community Hospital remains uncertain despite confirmation from NHS Devon last week that it was surrendering the empty ward space back to NHS Property Services, which owns the premises.

Town councillors raised new worries over the future of the former ward at the latest council meeting this week (December 11) following an announcement by NHS Devon that it had started the surrender process to save money.

In a letter to the council, NHS Devon stated that the “Devon NHS system has experienced significant financial challenges for many years, consistently spending more money on health services than it has been given.

“The former ward at Okehampton Community Hospital has been empty and unused and presents an opportunity for the local NHS to save more than £200,000 a year in rent and other property charges.

“We have been working with local health partners on what to do with the ward and so far no viable schemes have emerged. With all partners who have expressed an interest in occupying the space, we have been clear that any proposal would need to be viable financially.”

Town councillors were left disappointed by this response with Cllr Julie Yelland pointing out that few local charities, organisations and community interest companies would be able to afford £200,000 a year in rent alone and so described herself unsurprised that NHS Devon had been unable to find another group to take on the ward space instead.

But councillors are determined that the space remains used for the benefit of the community and have agreed to act to ensure that this happens.

Cllr Lynne Rogers said: “We have got to fight for our beds back. Everything is there. I don’t understand how they justify leaving it as a shell and then claiming they have got all these expenses.”

Cllr Mark Richards said that he “would fight tooth and nail to keep the beds there” but added that the facility could be used for other purposes including a care home or rehabilitation centre if it looked unlikely that the NHS was willing to reopen the ward.

His comment comes as councillors continue to face opposition from NHS authories, who do not wish to commit to reopening the hospital beds due to the current national NHS policy which is reluctant to reopen any closed wards across England.

With this in mind, councillors have now agreed the council will send representatives to any steering group set up to investigate possible ways the NHS might be persuaded to reopen the beds or find alternative means to ensure the empty space is used efficiently.

Cllr Laura Bird previously described the council’s continued battle to reopen the beds as a fight against the “national direction” but one it may be able to win if appropriate evidence and research is collated and presented to the NHS.

In a meeting earlier this year, Cllr Bird informed colleagues that the North and East Devon locality director at the Devon Clinical Commisioning Group, had said that the town council may be able to persuade officials to reopen the ward if it was able to present strong evidence that the beds are a local necessity.

A spokesperson for NHSPS said: “NHS Property Services continue to work closely with Devon ICB to help them address the ongoing issue of void space costs at Okehampton. Following the outcome of their recent consultation we are committed to working in partnership to resolve the situation and ensure best use of the remaining space for the local community.”

Okehampton’s hospital beds closed in 2017 following a public consultation by the Northern, Eastern and Western Clinical Commissioning Group which concluded that the new Okehampton Medical Centre had the capacity to treat the town’s hospital patients.