THE PROGNOSIS for the future of Tavistock Hospital looks far healthier this week after the official opening of its revamped £900,000 operating theatre.

It is a major boost of confidence for a hospital that has seen, due to deep cuts in the NHS budget, other nearby ‘community hospitals’ under threat.

The investment comes at a time when there are plans to replace Ashburton, Bovey Tracey, Dartmouth and Paignton with health and well being centres while the decision was recently made to close all of Okehampton Hospital’s 16 in-patient beds.

Tavistock Hospital last year had cuts imposed on its out of hours GP service. However fears that the hospital itself at Spring Hill could be under threat from swathing future cuts by the NHS, look to have been abated with this injection of fresh investment.

Tavistock Hospital is run by Livewell South West, works in partnership with Derriford Hospital in Plymouth and supported by Tavistock Hospital League of Friends.

The theatre currently specialises in dermatology, plastics, orthopaedics, general surgery, urology, colorectal and minor operations but with the latest refurbishment the theatre will be able to take on more specialities if needed. It is also now able to offer pre-op assessments.

Now health chiefs and staff are appealing to West Devon and East Cornwall residents to get behind their local hospital and opt to have operations closer to home rather than at the Plymouth hospital.

On Thursday the Mayor of Tavistock, Councillor Mandy Ewings, officially opened the new facilities along with theatre sister Rosie Primmer, who after 40 years service to Tavistock Hospital, was retiring the next day.

Mrs Ewings said on cutting the ribbon to the new operating theatre: ‘These refurbished operating rooms will be a huge benefit to the people of Tavistock and the surrounding area. It has taken years to built up this hospital to provide such services and a huge effort by so many people to make it happen.

‘It is so important to offer local residents state of the art facilities on their doorstep in such a relaxing environment.

‘I can honestly say myself that the care here is excellent. The food is fantastic and they even provide a beautiful view! Tavistock is so blessed to have these facilities on its doorstep and it must be a pleasure for the staff to be able to carry out their work in such state-of-the-art operating rooms.’

‘Finally I’d like to thank the NHS, Livewell Southwest, the CCG and Tavistock Hospital League of Friends for making this happen and Councillor Debo Sellis, who I know fought so hard for this hospital over the years.

The new facilities means that up to 2,000 patients a year will be able to be operated on at Tavistock, an increase of almost a quarter. It will also help to relieve the benefit of the services on the main regional health services at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.

Tavistock Hospital matron Trish Cooper told the Times: ‘This is a brilliant investment for a community hospital especially when times are hard, so we are really pleased.

‘At the moment we offer day care provision but not over night, as yet. We now have to get the message out there to the public that with all these new facilities and the trained and experienced staff at our disposal we want more people locally to ask their consultant to have their operation carried out here at Tavistock.

‘It will enable the waiting lists at Derriford Hospital to go down and it means less waiting time for everybody because we now have the capacity to perform the operations.

‘Also if patients choose to come here they will still be seen by the same doctors and consultants as they would at Derriford.

‘It also means we can now perform more complex operations. We now have built up a network of doctors and theatre staff, who have been provided with the training and equipment to perform so many types of operations.

‘Tavistock has a vibrant hospital and this investment is a great boost of confidence to all the staff here and a major improvement of the services we can provide for our patients. Please, support your local hospital and use these wonderful facilities you have on your doorstep.’

Scrub nurse Jenny Base also appealed to people in the area to come to Tavistock rather than Derriford Hospital for the many operations that can now be performed nearer to home.

‘It’s fantastic that we have these singing and dancing, state of the art operating rooms here in Tavistock. Some people out there do not even realise that they have a hospital in Tavistock. Now we have to get it into people’s psyche that they should choose to come to this hospital for their operations.’

The hospital is now attracting the doctors and theatre staff who specialise in the range of operations being offered at the community hospital.

Duncan Currall, is chairman of Livewell Southwest, an independent social enterprise (Community Interest Company) which provides integrated health and social care services for people in Plymouth, and community health services in South Hams and West Devon.

He said: ‘We are really delighted with what is going to be a marvellous facility for the people of Tavistock and the surrounding area. Livewell Southwest, along with the CCG and the League of Friends have invested in this hospital and we are pleased to be able to put that money back into the community.’

Joy Harrison, chair of the Tavistock Hospital?League of Friends, said: ‘I was delighted to be at the official opening of the refurbished operating rooms where the state-of-the-art facilities will match the dedication of the staff at the hospital.

‘The Tavistock Hospital League of Friends will continue to support the hospital where it can.’