MORETONHAMPSTEAD Community Hospital is to be adapted into a 'community health hub' — meaning the hospital's nine inpatient beds are to close permanently. Local residents, patient representatives, GPs, voluntary sector representatives, elected representatives and other organisations have formed a group and signed a 'statement of intent' for the future of health in the town. They agreed that the community hospital should be adapted and developed as a community health and wellbeing hub offering a wide range of health and social care services from one site. The move also reflects the present national financial environment and, coupled with the difficulty of recruiting professional staff at the hospital, means the temporary closure of the inpatient beds will become permanent. It will mean that some services currently available only in Okehampton, Exeter and Newton Abbot will be accessible from a single local centre better able to support the wider needs of the local community and, in particular, to cope with the increasingly elderly population. Local GP Dr Tim Dudgeon said: 'I am pleased we are progressing with the formation of the 'hub'. I hope that in the next few weeks services will be up and running and will be available for patients to use.' Philip Fowler, chair of the Moretonhampstead Hospital League of Friends, said: 'Moretonhampstead Hospital has been a key part of the health care provision in North East Dartmoor and while it may not now have inpatient beds, it will provide a new range of care that previously might only have been accessible by going out of the area. The League of Friends looks forward to being involved in this exciting, ground breaking new health hub in North East Dartmoor.' Richard Foxwell, of Moretonhampstead Parish Council, and Mike Elleston, from the Moretonhampstead and Chagford patient group, said: 'Moretonhampstead, Chagford and the surrounding area is rural and remote so often health care for residents means travelling to Exeter or beyond.  'Overwhelmingly, the community supported converting the hospital to a health and social care hub. Already, it is the base for the community nurses, and many regular clinics plus extra health services planned for introduction in the next few months. 'Converting the time-honoured Moretonhampstead Hospital into a health and social care hub is fundamental for the future. The parish councils see the increasing number of services opening here enabling many of the health treatments currently provided at Exeter or Okehampton becoming localised. It is the NHS moving to provide daily care in or closer to the patient's home. 'The group will also look at how services could be designed in the local community, how to overcome transport issues, financial planning and how best to communicate the plans to local people.' The statement of intent was agreed following a series of public meetings and engagement events where the Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust (NDHT) invited people to get involved in securing the future of health services in the area. It was also agreed by the respective boards of the CCG's Eastern Locality Board and NDHT, which owns the hospital building and provides community health and social care services to local residents. To see the full statement of intent or for more information, or to get involved, go to http://www.healthypeoplemoreton.co.uk">www.healthypeoplemoreton.co.uk