Long-lived charity, Friends of Okehampton and District Hospital, is in danger of closure unless two new members can be found to fill vital positions on the committee.

Following the death of long-serving secretary Mary Rattenbury and the imminent departure of treasurer Ann Lane, the committee has warned that unless new members come forward to fill these vacancies the charity will be forced to close.

Current chairman Martin Perry said: ‘It will be a sad day, but we receive few requests at the moment for financial assistance that is permitted by our constitution.

‘I have now been treasurer and or chairman for some 20 years and would also like to hand over the reins if possible. But if we close we will be unable to provide services to the hospital’s patients.’

In a call out to existing and potential new members, the charity will host its annual general meeting at which it hopes members of the community will band together and put their names forward to save the charity.

The meeting, which will be held at the Ockment Centre at 7pm on May 10, will decide the fate of the Friends of Okehampton and District Hospital which has been running for nearly 60 years.

The charity added that if the charity closes the funds raised over the years will pass to other appropriate health care charities working in the Okehampton area.

The hospital charity was formed in 1964, and since then has offered support to the Castle Hospital (now Castle Ham Lodge), the Memorial Hospital (now part of the Okehampton Medical Centre) and the current hospital’s activities, including providing refreshments to inpatients, a coach for one of the clinics and specific equipment needed to aid patient recovery.

Mr Perry added: ‘We have raised up to £5,000 to £8,000 each year and we also have the bequests given to us.

‘Following the last major reorganisation of the NHS that involved the removal of inpatient beds and the minor injuries unit from the hospital, our activity has been minimal.

‘We are there to supply the extras that the NHS does not supply and to add to the comfort of the patients. However, there are few demands coming from the hospital since the beds were taken out — only the clinics and they seem pretty self-sufficient.’

Though the Friends of Okehampton and District Hospital has been called on less frequently in recent years, the hospital is still a much-loved facility within the town and surrounding area. 

Many residents in Okehampton and the surrounding area have been calling for the reopening of the hospital ward and minor injuries unit since it was first closed in 2017.

Earlier this year former Okehampton town councillor Jan Goffey called out for a renewed push to reopen the hospital beds after the Government’s announcement in January that it was setting out a two-year delivery plan to support the emergency services, reduce waiting times and prevent bed-blocking. She argued that the closure of the ward had resulted in families unable to visit loved ones and patients unable to convalesce closer to home.

Her pleas followed on from those of Cllr Tony Leech in July last year when he asked that the town council write to MP Mel Stride asking him to lobby for the minor injury unit and hospital ward to be reopened.

Cllr Leech reenergised the ongoing campaign after he read a report by the South Western Ambulance Service, published last year, which recommended that hospitals across the area implemented the triage model used at the Royal Devon and Exeter (RD&E) Hospital and provided better minor injury unit access to reduce ambulance waiting times.

Okehampton’s hospital once included a ward and a full maternity service, which has been ‘temporarily closed’ for six years due to staffing shortages.