PLANS to close all 16 in-patient beds at Okehampton Hospital have drawn widespread criticism from the community and raised fears over the hospital’s overall future.

On September 21, the Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (NEW Devon CCG) unveiled plans to cut half of the in-patient beds in its eastern locality, including all 16 beds in Okehampton Hospital.

The current 143 beds across the locality’s hospitals are to be reduced to 72 beds located at three hospitals instead of the seven used at present.

The CCG is considering four options which would keep beds at Tiverton Hospital and two other hospitals out of Sidmouth, Exmouth, Seaton or Whipton. All four options mean Okehampton Hospital would lose all its in-patient beds.

The plans have drawn widespread criticism, including from Okehampton’s MP Mel Stride, borough and town councillors, Okehampton Mayor Cllr Jan Goffey and the Friends of Okehampton Hospital.

The day after the news broke, several councillors took a banner outside the hospital with a clear and resounding message — Save Our Beds.

Since then, a ‘Save Our Beds — Okehampton Hospital’ Facebook page has been set up by Cllr the Rev Mike Davies and in just a matter of days, has over 750 followers.

Representatives from the CCG were at West Devon Borough Council’s external overview and scrutiny committee meeting on Monday to discuss the plans with councillors.

It has been revealed that at the next full council meeting, councillors will vote on whether to formally ask the CCG to include an option in the consultation plans to keep Okehampton Hospital’s beds open.

Speaking directly to the CCG representatives, Cllr Kevin Ball, borough councillor for Okehampton North, said: ‘I am very concerned that keeping beds at Okehampton is not one of the options in the proposals.

‘I would ask that the CCG reconsider an option of having Okehampton beds, otherwise the decision has already been made and we have nothing to consult on.

‘Currently, the CCG is offering one option, with four different ways of working that one option.

‘I accept there are different methods of care and times when home care is more appropriate. There are times when it is not.

‘It is short-sighted to not even have Okehampton beds in the consultation discussion.’

The plans have raised fears that with the slow removal of different services from the hospital, be it the closure of the Okement Surgery or the relocation of the town’s minor injuries unit to Okehampton Medical Centre, the removal of in-patient beds could lead to the hospital’s closure.

Cllr Julie Yelland, borough councillor for Okehampton South, said: ‘The services in Okehampton Hospital have been withdrawn piecemeal.

‘It appears services have been withdrawn, and withdrawn, and withdrawn. It seems eventually we will have an empty building and it will eventually close. I want assurances our hospital will stay open.’

Chief operating officer of the CCG Jerry Clough moved to reassure Cllr Yelland that the hospital’s future should be secure.

He inferred that its future could be similar to that of Moretonhampstead Hospital, which lost its in-patient beds in 2014 and has since become a ‘health and wellbeing hub’, a new model designed to provide general practice on a larger scale.

In the NEW Devon area, local health and social care organisations are facing a financial shortfall in 2015/16 of £122-million, which will rise to £384-million in 2020/21 if nothing changes.

The CCG argues that at the same time, many people are in hospital beds who could be cared for at home.

They say that with the right care, people can be supported to be in their own home, and this is their goal.

In order to deliver this model of care where more people receive proactive support in their own homes, avoiding hospital admissions and getting home from hospital sooner, the CCG needs to increase the number of staff in the community teams.

To achieve this it needs to take the skills, expertise and resources from delivering inpatient care to delivering care in people’s homes.

The model has three key aspects to it:

A comprehensive assessment – this identifies people who are frail or becoming frail, and therefore are at risk of being admitted to hospital, and puts a care plan in place for them which sets out possible routes for escalating care when needed.

Single point of access – when additional support is needed, a single point of access, connected to a comprehensive care at home service, will help people to remain at home with support, rather than being admitted to hospital.

Rapid response (care at home) – when someone does need to go to hospital they will be helped to leave as soon as it is clinically safe to do so, with additional support provided at home including health and care workers delivering rehabilitation alongside traditional care.

The governing body of the CCG was due to make a decision on whether the proposals will go out to public consultation today, on September 28. If approved as expected, public consultation on the plans will run over 13 weeks, expected to start on October 7 and run to January 6, 2017. Full papers and information about the governing body meeting are available on the CCG’s website www.newdevonccg.nhs.uk

Reflecting on Bed Plans

Numerous figures from the Okehampton community have spoken out against the proposed closure of all 16 in-patient beds at Okehampton Hospital. Here is a selection of their comments.

Mel Stride, MP for Central Devon: ‘I have spoken with the chief executive of the CCG to voice my serious concerns that Okehampton Hospital is due to lose its beds without any public consultation.

‘The trust has agreed to an urgent meeting with me to discuss the details surrounding this decision. I am bitterly disappointed that at least one of the four options that will be consulted on does not include beds remaining in Okehampton.’

Cllr Tony Leech, borough councillor for Okehampton North: ‘I can see no logic in not including Okehampton Hospital in the options, as the beds are mainly in full use now. The hospital was originally designed to take about 25 beds, so as far as I can see, it is underutilised now.

‘Back in May of this year, I was told by an NHS England representative that the hospital and the 16 beds were safe, and that the minor injuries unit would return to the hospital once the new contracts had been sorted out. We now hear that the hospital is still safe, but they will not tell us what they intend to use the building for.

‘There are a great deal of different clinics based at the hospital that patients use now, which you would think would also be a reason to keep it open.

‘But as I can’t fully trust what I am told from one week to another, anything could happen, so this will need people power to press for logic and common sense to prevail, and not just give in to what looks like an auditor’s stroke of a pen!’

Cllr the Rev Mike Davies, borough councillor for Okehampton North: ‘This is yet another hit for Okehampton. With the projected growth of the town we cannot afford to be losing hospital services. This is a step too far from the NHS. The Clinical Commissioning Group appears to be a law unto itself.’

Okehampton Mayor Cllr Jan Goffey: ‘It is absolutely appalling. It seems the decision was made some time ago. The consultation period is for the CCG to talk to people and inform them and explain the decision, not to change it.

‘With no in-patient beds in Okehampton, people will die. It’s as simple as that. I’m allergic to wasp stings — if I got stung in the neck I wouldn’t make it to Exeter or one of the other hospitals. Where are elderly people who need care going to go? It is absolutely appalling. It is the privatisation of medicine through the back door. It shouldn’t be happening.

‘The NHS is hiring all sorts of highly-paid consultants to carry out these studies. What we need to be spending the money on is ground staff, our wards, our nurses. We need our hospitals.

‘Okehampton Medical Centre has 14,400 patients enlisted. That is obviously not just from the town but Okehampton Hamlets, the villages and surrounding areas. It is vital to have our hospital. We’ve been given reassurances in the past about the minor injuries unit returning to the hospital and our wards being safe but it was all for nothing.’

Chairman of the Friends of Okehampton Hospital Martin Perry: ‘This is outrageous when only a few weeks ago we were assured our hospital in Okehampton was secure and if anything under utilised. We assumed by this in-patient beds were to be retained.

‘Our committee understand and accept the evidence that most patients recover more quickly in their home environment with a suitable package of care but some, of course, are too ill and poorly to cope. We also understand the financial pressures the NHS in Devon is under when a deficit of £384-million is predicted by 2020 and radical changes are inevitable.

‘However, accepting all that, we find the options being put to the CCG board totally unacceptable. All of the four options would involve huge distances – round trips of up to 168 miles and three hours driving.

‘For patients, carers and visiting family and friends this is utter madness. With no public transport from the rural villages this makes the proposals even more of a nightmare. Here in Okehampton we have a purpose-built, relatively new hospital with high scoring reviews by all the hospital inspectorate teams. The criteria used by the CCG in reaching these options were the quality of care, access, finance, ward configuration and the flexibility of the site – in all areas we believe Okehampton rates highly.

‘Seaton, Sidmouth and Exmouth are all located quite closely together so it makes no sense to leave this large area of West Devon with no in-patient beds.

‘The CCG told me today that this review concerned only the in-patient beds and the rest of the services provided from Okehampton Hospital such as the 41 clinics, have not been considered yet.

‘A few weeks ago we were told that the minor injuries unit which was moved to the health centre would be moved back to the hospital once a consortium of medical practices could be put together to run it.’