Repeated requests to offer more services from Okehampton Hospital are keeping up the pressure on the NHS.

The latest round of NHS announcements focusing on the delivery of services closer to home in rural communities makes the return of 36 beds on two wards and maternity services to Okehampton Hospital looks doubtful.

In a letter to the newspaper, local resident Pete Gross highlights the Government’s aim of expanding access to services via Community Diagnostic Centres and surgical hubs, saying “surely that has to give Okehampton’s plight more credence?”

Local councillor Jan Goffey, who regularly attends NHS Devon Integrated Care Board meetings, said: “We are so relieved that the work on the roof of Okehampton Hospital has been completed before the latest dire news about hospital funding. Our lovely modern hospital is now in a good shape for the foreseeable future.

“At the meeting with the chair of the Integrated Care Board in January, I was able to highlight the benefits of local dialysis treatment, the return of the use of birthing unit should Cornwall opt in to Devon for maternity services, and the cost to patients in time, money and stress when appointments are given for clinics in far flung corners of the county.

“Our hospital has over 40 clinics plus physiotherapy, so always remember to ask ‘Is there a clinic in Okehampton Hospital, and can I go there please?’.”

At the November meeting with the care board the councillor for Okehampton Hamlets Parish Council made the case for a range of additional services being offered at the hospital. These included an update on the provision of NHS dental services at the hospital which had been mooted at a meeting earlier in the year.

With the town’s population having risen by 2,500 people, just one dental practice offering NHS dental services and a new housing development due to come on line, Cllr Goffey has even offered local fundraising to help equip a clinic at the hospital. The board replied that the idea had been passed to NHS England South West.

Cllr Goffey, who is a member of Okehampton Hamlets Parish Council, also asked about the lack of mental health provision closer to home, with the NHS sending patients out of county for treatment, incurring travel costs for family and slowing the patient’s recovery.

The board replied: “We are aware of the detrimental impact being away from family and support networks can have on length of stay and advocate to keep people as close to home as we are able.

“Developing a focus on preventative measures and access to the right support at the right time will hopefully reduce the need for mental health units and increase accessibility to services in the community that you reside.”

An NHS public consultation is currently open for feedback and will help shape the NHS in the Government’s ten-year health plan set to be published in spring 2025.

Delivering healthcare closer to where people live is a priority in the recent government announcement after an independent investigation by Lord Darzi into the NHS found the health service in a ‘critical condition’.