Teignmouth Hospital

Save Teignmouth Hospital Looking at the state of the NHS, the last thing most of us would say is that we have too many hospitals. Devon has an older than average population and a lower than average number of Hospital beds. Our Ambulance Service has to deal with longer distances, country lanes and fewer hospitals to take people to. In the last year or so, herculean efforts have been made to reduce ambulance queues, but it is still happening. The BBC reported on Jan 5th 2024 that NHS data showed that in December “Torbay and South Devon NHS Trust had the fourth-worst ambulance handover delays in England, with 57% of patients waiting more than 30 minutes.” Meanwhile in Teignmouth the pre-covid plan of closing Teignmouth Hospital is still on the cards. No-one suggests that Teignmouth doesn’t need a new GP surgery, but that shouldn’t mean that we close the Town’s Hospital. Cllr David Cox and I and many others have been working for years to get this decision reviewed. At Devon County Council in under two weeks (24th Jan) we have the last chance to save Teignmouth Hospital. A meeting of the Health and Adults Social Care Scrutiny Committee will consider the evidence and consider whether to refer the closure to the Secretary of State. It all sounds very obscure, but this is the last opportunity to save the Hospital from closure. All across Devon we have lost too many of our Cottage Hospitals. Cottage Hospitals fill a need to have a local place close to patient’s homes, where there are services and often convalescent beds that allow people to transition home. Now I think most agree that being at home is the best place to recover, but that isn’t always possible for everyone. Teignmouth Hospital was the first purpose-built NHS hospital and has served the people of Teignmouth and surrounds for a good number of years. Without it, locals will need to go further afield, to the Urgent Treatment Centre in Newton Abbot, or to the Dawlish Minor Injuries Unit – except that the MIU is still shut, and the UTC is too often full to capacity and closed for new patients. And so more people and ambulances will be waiting in Accident and Emergency in Torbay or Exeter…