Beds

There are few more important issues than healthcare. The Government recognises this and has protected the healthcare budget, despite having to control the deficit.

But despite its protected status the NHS will, in future, still have to provide more for less not least due to the ever increasing expectations of what it should provide and the fact that we are living longer. So, more efficient ways of providing healthcare will be critical going forward.

One approach that local NHS Trusts take towards this challenge is to transition care away from inpatient services (beds) and towards care in the community.

Where high quality care can be better provided at home and less expensively than in hospitals then this is a sensible approach and why in general I am supportive of the greater development of outpatient facilities for our community hospitals.

Well resourced teams of healthcare professionals providing day care services along with home visits makes sense but there is an absolutely vital caveat to all this which is that where there remains a genuine demand for in-patient beds then arguments around additional outpatient provision should not be used to justify their removal.

At Ashburton and Buckfastleigh and Bovey Hospitals there is a clear need for local beds, as there is at Moretonhampstead Hospital — ageing and growing local populations are sustaining this demand. Yet the beds at Ashburton and Buckfastleigh and Bovey are being considered for removal and those in Moretonhampstead are currently subject to temporary closure due to staffing issues.

I have liaised carefully with local residents and stakeholders and have remained closely engaged with the two healthcare trusts involved. I have argued strongly for the retention of the in-patient beds in Bovey and Ashburton and will continue to keep up the pressure to see the beds in Moretonhampstead reinstated.