Dawlish Hospital to get £360k upgrade

Part of plans for new Teignbridge health hub

Dawlish Hospital could undergo a £360,000 upgrade to handle clinics and day case procedures switched from Teignmouth as part of major changes to NHS care.

The proposals would see Teignmouth Hospital close, with other services moving to a new £8 million health and wellbeing centre in Teignmouth town centre. The investment was outlined as county councillors heard about the plans being put forward by Devon NHS.

The new centre in Brunswick Street would house GPs, the voluntary sector,  community health and care services and the most heavily used community clinics including podiatry, physiotherapy, audiology, and consultant-led ear, nose and throat – almost three-quarters of the hospital’s outpatient appointments. All other clinics and day cases, largely used by people from the wider South Devon area, would move to Dawlish Community Hospital four miles away.

The proposals would see a continued focus on community-based intermediate care, confirming the reversal of a decision four years ago to put 12 rehabilitation beds at Teignmouth. Devon NHS says successful community services means the beds are unnecessary.

Campaigners in Teignmouth have continued to oppose the closure of the town’s community hospital, regarded as the first in the UK purpose-built for the NHS. The details of the changes were outlined by Devon Clinical Commissioning Group at a meeting of Devon County Council’s health and adult care scrutiny committee last week.

Councillors heard that public consultation on the plans launched at the start of September had been delayed from March due to the coronavirus pandemic. That meant a potential start date on the site for the new health and wellbeing centre was pushed back to January 2021.

John Clatworthy, county councillor for Dawlish and part of Teignmouth, said he understood the concerns about the closure of Teignmouth Hospital. He said local GPs had been involved with the plans for several years and it had been confirmed the changes would not affect services currently available at Dawlish Hospital, where there was plenty of parking on a level site. “Clearly the consultation needs to be approached with an open mind and change needs to be managed,” the councillor said.

Teignmouth councillor Sylvia Russell congratulated the CCG for the quality of the consultation material and urged the public to take part in the process. She said local people would need to be convinced that the plans were the right way forward to deliver modern health services. She said: “I’m aware and you are aware there is great concern in Teignmouth about the loss of the hospital. This has been going on now for four years, when the decision was made not to replace the reablement beds, and people suddenly began to realise that something was going on underhand really, to close the hospital without anybody realising – death by 1,000 cuts sort of thing.”

Cllr Russell added: “I think that when you talk to people, you are going to need to convince them, very strongly, that is the way forward with the new healthcare services that we need to look at now. We have to look forward, healthcare has changed tremendously  and I know that from my personal family experience. What was right years ago is completely different now. We have to recognise that and the realism of that, if we want to provide health services that are going to be fit for purpose in the future.”

The consultation is being carried out remotely due to the  pandemic, with full information and  a questionnaire available online. Meetings are being held remotely and the consultation document and questionnaire are being sent to 16,000 homes in Teignmouth and Dawlish, with 130,000 leaflets delivered in the rest of South Devon and Torbay.

Healthwatch is supporting the process with a consultation phone line and email address, councillors heard. Jenny Turner, head of integrated care for Devon Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “We are really really keen that we spread the range as far as possible and hear from as many people as possible about their views on the proposal.”

The consultation ends on October 26 and the committee asked for a report on the results. More information on the proposals and consultation process is available on the CCG website at  https://www.devonccg.nhs.uk/teignmouth-and-dawlish.