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Changes to healthcare provision around in Teignmouth and Dawlish that would see Teignmouth Hospital close will be formally put out for consultation.

The Governing Body of NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group on Thursday afternoon unanimously approved the launch of an eight-week public consultation process over relocation of community, specialist outpatient clinics and day case procedures into a new health and wellbeing centre in Teignmouth or at Dawlish Hospital.

The NHS is set to build a new £8 million health and wellbeing centre in the centre of Teignmouth to provide modern, environmentally sustainable and fit-for-purpose accommodation for GP and other health and care services.

The building, in Brunswick Street, would house the town’s GP practices – Channel View Medical Practice, Teign Estuary Medical Group and Teignmouth Medical Group – as well as the local health and wellbeing team, charity Volunteering in Health (which helps deliver local care), and a pharmacy.

Community clinics would also be provided from the Brunswick Street site, but the specialist outpatients service and the theatre service would be transferred to Dawlish Community Hospital.

The CCG board was told that no services would be stopped and all the services currently provided in Teignmouth Community Hospital would stay in either Teignmouth or Dawlish.

The proposal would:

Move high-use community clinics from Teignmouth Community Hospital into a health and wellbeing centre in Teignmouth.

Move specialist outpatient clinics from Teignmouth Community Hospital into Dawlish Community Hospital.

Move day case procedures from Teignmouth Community Hospital into Dawlish Community Hospital.

Continue with a model of community-based intermediate care, reversing the decision to establish 12 rehabilitation beds in Teignmouth Community Hospital.

Consultation on the plans will run from March 10 to May 5, before coming back to the CCG Board later in the year for a final decision, although the new building and its location is not part of the consultation process.

If the proposal is backed later by the CCG Board then it would see all the health and wellbeing centre built by December 2021 and the relocation of the GP practices and the Trust H&WB Team, Voluntary sector and Community Clinics by February 2022, with the relocation of Day Case Procedure and Outpatient activity from Teignmouth to Dawlish in February 2021.

As Teignmouth Community Hospital, opened in 1954, the first hospital built under the NHS, would no longer be needed for NHS services, it would likely be sold to generate funds for reinvestment in the local NHS.

(Image: Torquil MacLeod)

The board were told that the Hospital cannot be economically reconfigured to provide modern facilities required today and in the future.

Outlining the proposal, Dr Matthew Fox, clinical representative of NHS Devon CCG and a GP at the Barton Surgery, Dawlish, said: “Since 2015 when we changed the way we provide care in the Teignmouth and Dawlish area, local people have been getting better care, closer to home. As a result, fewer people are now being admitted to hospital in an emergency – and those who do spend less time there.

“The success of the joined-up – or integrated – care we provide has been recognised nationally and internationally, and we have demonstrated that we can care for our patients in their own community using the beds we already have available.”

The board were told that there were four main reasons why the CCG wished to close the Hospital and combine care in the new health and wellbeing hub.

They were:

The new way of caring for people in the community is so successful, the 12 rehabilitation beds at Teignmouth Community Hospital have been found not to be needed.

It would safeguard the future of Teignmouth’s GP practices, which currently suffer from, cramped space; deteriorating buildings and access issues

Make the most of the local community hospital estate as Teignmouth Community Hospital needs significant investment, around £1.5m, to bring it up to modern standards, and that Dawlish Hospital has space available and ample parking nearby

The local and national NHS strategy is to further integrate health and care services – by bringing many different health and care organisations together to deliver care centred on a person’s needs, often delivered in their home

The board were told that the GP surgeries in principle had agreed to the house, with a Dr Carlie Karakusevic, of Channel View Medical Practice, saying in advance of the meeting: “I don’t want to be alarmist, but we need to change to survive. Moving to a health and wellbeing centre would give GP services a fantastic platform on which to build in coming years.”

Simon Tapley, the interim accountable officer, asked questions about why the CCG were not choosing to just use the hospital site and what was the rationale for just putting the one proposal.

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In response, we has told that the existing hospital site would require significant investment and its current location in Mill Lane is not desirable as it is not centrally located and is on a steep hill, while the Brunswick Street site would be accessible, deliverable, can be future proofed, as is closer to the town centre.

Dr Sonja Manton, Interim director of commissioning (northern, eastern and southern), added: “We do have a clear vision. There would be no reduction in service provision and this is not about changing services or the access to them, but putting them in a better location and sustain the model to enable us to do more.

“We can care for far more people better in bed placed care. We feel that this is the right proposal and is affordable, feasible and practical.”

Her report to the meeting added: “The significant success in the Coastal locality (Teignmouth and Dawlish area) is a result of the work that has been undertaken to put patients at the centre of their own health and care. Services are being delivered to people in their own homes and they have been empowered to have more control over their own health. The next natural step in Teignmouth is to further integrate services with primary care co-locating in a building that is fit for purpose.

“GPs are the bedrock of the NHS; they are everyone’s first port of call. Ensuring primary care is sustainable and able to support integrated working is crucial. Local GPs need to be equipped to deliver the benefits of integrated working, so they can continue to enhance the existing model of care and further embed services locally.

“GPs have expressed a wish to co-locate in a new building and the 2018 public engagement exercise showed that people supported co-location but wanted their GP practice to be on a flat site, in the centre of town, easily accessible by public transport. The GPs would like to work closer together to share good practice, some back-office functions.

“By having services based in one location in Teignmouth would put real focus on prevention, independence and keeping people well and out of hospital – physical and mental health would work alongside social care and the voluntary sector.

(Image: Andy Styles)

“Teignmouth Community Hospital was opened in 1954. The hospital cannot be economically reconfigured to provide modern facilities required today and in the future.

“The vision is to provide excellent integrated services ensuring the sustainability of primary care and building on the success of integrating services. This can be achieved through a new build health and wellbeing centre in the centre of Teignmouth bringing together primary care, health and wellbeing teams and the voluntary sector. Community clinics would also move to the health and wellbeing centre with specialist outpatient clinics and day case procedures moving four miles down the road to Dawlish Community Hospital.”

All feedback from the consultation process would be collated and assessed by independent watchdog Healthwatch Torbay, before being considered as part of a final decision-making process later this year when the Governing Body of Devon CCG would decide how to proceed.

No details as to what would happen in the CCG voted against the proposals were outlined at Thursday’s meeting.