A councillor is urging people living in and around Okehampton to come to a meeting today, Friday, October 13, to find out more about the future of health services in the town.

NHS staff and voluntary providers will be on hand to answer questions about what services people can expect in the way of health services, in the wake of the closure of hospital’s 16 in-patient beds and current closure of the beds in the maternity unit. The meeting is being held in the Ockment Centre from 10am to 4pm.

County councillor Kevin Ball, who represents Okehampton and the surrounding area, said: ’This is an opportunity to ask the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust and the Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Care Commissioning Group about the decisions made, and about what the provision is going forward.

’I instigated this meeting because I felt that the Care Commissioning Group needed to meet the community to explain the reasons why they have made recent decisions. This is an opportunity for the community to ask them questions about these decisions and also to get clarification about what the future looks like for the community.’

The maternity unit will now remain closed into the New Year, with the NHS blaming ’ongoing staff vacancies and long-term sickness absence’ for the decision to extend its temporary closure. Around 45 clinics still take place at the hospital, including antenatal and postnatal care.