THE chairman of the Friends of Okehampton Community Hospital met last week with health bosses to discuss the future of Okehampton Hospital.

Martin Perry, chairman and treasurer of the Friends of Okehampton Community Hospital met with Rob Sainsbury, the director of operations at the Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (NEW Devon CCG), to address the proposed closure of all 16 in-patient beds at Okehampton Community Hospital.

Mr Perry said: ‘We were pleased to hear that the future of the hospital is not in doubt and that now the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital will be managing it.

‘Mr Sainsbury considered it to be inconceivable that the building would not be used to its fullest extent. Clearly he could not comment on the outcome of the consultation on beds but assured us that Okehampton’s case for retaining its beds was definitely now one of the options to be studied.’

NEW Devon CCG recently launched a public consultation on a proposal to cut half of the community hospital in-patient beds across its eastern locality. The consultation will run until January 6, 2017.

The CCG is considering five options which would keep beds at Tiverton Hospital and two other hospitals out of Sidmouth, Exmouth, Seaton or Whipton. The fifth option allows the public to present their preferred option of healthcare in the area, including the retention of beds at Okehampton Hospital.

The fifth option was added after community feedback, including the launch of the ‘Save our Beds’ campaign by Okehampton residents.

Mr Perry added: ‘We have emphasised to the CCG that there are a number of factors that, in our view, makes the retention of beds in Okehampton a priority.

‘The rural nature of the catchment area means that patients and family do not have such vast distances to travel should any of the other options be adopted.

‘Our community put £250,000 into the building of our new hospital and it has facilities that others do not. There are clearly patients that are unable to cope at home even with the proposed enhanced care in the community and it may well be that a hospital bed is not appropriate either if there are long term conditions that do not need the specialist care of a hospital.

‘The problem here in Okehampton is that we no longer have the nursing and care homes to fill that gap. The closure of Wardhayes, was in our view, a short sighted decision and makes the situation that much more difficult.’

The campaign to save the beds in Okehampton has received a great deal of support from the community, including the Okehampton and District Community Transport Group which has said it ‘wholeheartedly’ supported the campaign.

Sue Wonnacott, co-ordinator for the transport group, said: ‘We wholeheartedly support the campaign to stop the closure of the in-patient beds at Okehampton Hospital.

’Okehampton has a fast growing population with pressure already on the services which are available and with the closure of Wardhayes recently, there are no other reablement facilities for patients who need a temporary halfway house between their care in hospitals such as the Royal Devon and Exeter and their own homes. 

‘Patients without their own transport in our very rural area struggle to attend appointments at the larger hospitals as the public transport is very limited and their families also find it difficult to visit.

‘It seems to be common sense to send patients back to their local hospitals as soon as possible to free up beds for acute patients and to allow patients to be near their family and friends which makes them feel happier and on the road to recovery, with visitors able to pop in for short visits, especially if they are working and find it difficult to get time off. 

‘The closure of the Ockment Surgery also affected several of our clients who were unhappy after choosing to transfer to this doctor’s surgery, only to be told they now had to return to the medical centre. They have had their choice removed and with the increasing number of patients now at this centre, waiting times for appointments have increased.

‘The maternity unit is also very important to the community allowing mothers to be close to their families and to not have to endure a long uncomfortable journey to a larger hospital.

‘With the increasing pressure on the main hospitals due to “bed blocking” it is essential that facilities are retained locally to ensure that there is no delay in treatment for urgent cases at Exeter.

‘The pressure on beds is certain to increase with our ageing population and better medical treatment and closures like this will be another classic short term fix that is shown to be a total error of judgement that may be reversed within a very short time.

‘Please let common sense prevail and maintain the facility in Okehampton. NHS England removed our funding recently (which assisted in covering our volunteer drivers mileage) and this closure would put extra pressure on our service.’

Full papers and information about the public consultation involving the hospital and governing body meeting are available on NEW Devon CCG’s website www.newdevonccg.nhs.co.uk