VOICES calling to save Okehampton Hospital’s in-patient beds are growing louder, after Devon County Council called for a pause in planned cuts to hospital services, and a 3,000 signature petition opposing the closures was delivered to parliament.

There has been widespread public opposition to the cuts to both acute services and in-patient beds, proposed to head off a multi-million pound deficit in health services.

As part of these cuts, the Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (NEW Devon CCG) has proposed to cut half of the community hospital in-patient beds across its eastern locality, including all 16 beds in Okehampton Hospital.

Devon County Council is calling on the Government and NHS England to provide fair funding for health services in Devon.

Councillors agreed unanimously last week that until health services in Devon are properly funded, it was not possible to judge what the deficit was and if any action was needed to balance the books.

Devon County Council’s Conservative leader John Hart called on all councillors to support the move, which had been suggested by the all-party health scrutiny committee.

He said: ‘We all recognise the intense financial pressure that all public services are under.

‘Devon County Council has had to make incredibly difficult decisions about services over the past seven years and we sympathise with health managers and want to work closely with them.

‘But health and social care are so vital in Devon where we have a significantly higher proportion of older people who need our help and support.

‘That’s why we are proposing to increase our adult social care budget by 9.5 per cent or £18.8-million next year, despite the continuing cuts that the Government is imposing on us.

‘Only last month the respected health charity, The King’s Fund, published a detailed report on the implementation of the NHS’s transformation plans across the country.

‘It found that key elements of the process have been “top down” and tight deadlines had made it difficult to secure meaningful involvement in the plans from key stakeholders, including patients and the public, local authorities, clinicians and other frontline staff.

‘It argued the plans offered the best hope to improve health and care services, despite having been beset by problems so far, and called for a need to secure the meaningful involvement of patients and the public in the plans, alongside clinicians, other frontline staff and local authorities.

‘In light of these conclusions and the very strong feelings in communities across Devon about the local proposals, we think there needs to be a pause in these plans to allow health managers to review their budgets and for our MPs to fight for adequate funding for health and social care for our residents.’

In the same week as these calls from the county council, campaigners visited Westminster last Thursday (December 8) to hand in a petition with 3,129 signatures objecting to the NEW Devon CCG proposals to close all of Okehampton Hospital’s beds.

The ‘Save Our Beds’ campaign petition, which was launched by a number of representatives in Okehampton, was given to Central Devon MP Mel Stride, who will pass the document on directly to Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt.

Central Devon MP Mel Stride said: ‘I have pressed the Northern, Eastern and Western Devon CCG very hard on the need to fully engage with the community in Okehampton and respond to the concerns that local residents have about their hospital losing its in-patient beds. The fact that so many people have signed this petition, and campaigners have come all the way to Westminster to deliver it, shows the strength of feeling that exists on this issue and I will be passing it on to the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, for his consideration and response.’

Town mayor Cllr Jan Goffey said: ‘Our online petition has over 2,000 signatories.This petition is still open as is the CCG consultation form. There will be session held in the Ockment Centre before Christmas that will help people fill in these forms. The committee is also working on the paper to put forward our response to the new home care model.’

West Devon Borough Cllr Mike Davies, who set up the ‘Save Our Beds’ Facebook page, said: ‘So many people in Okehampton have worked so hard to fight the cause of keeping the beds at a Okehampton Hospital. The fight is by no means over and we will keep going.

‘Our visit to Westminster was to confirm to our MP that it is not just a few of us but the majority who believe the beds needs to remain.

‘With disappointment I look at how the NEW Devon CCG has provided little, or no, evidence of putting in place care in the home before deciding to close vital hospitals. The people of the Okehampton area will be sold short by the CCG.

‘Geographically we are right on the edge of the Eastern CCG and if the powers that be think we can all travel great distances by car and bus then they don’t appreciate how rural Devon actual is!

‘We trust Mel Stride has heard our views and will fight the case for the Okehampton Hospital beds to remain.’

NEW Devon CCG is holding a drop-in roadshow event in Okehampton’s Charter Hall today (December 15) from 3pm to 5pm.

The Save Our Beds campaign group is holding a session in the Ockment Centre on December 20 from 10am to help people fill out their consultation response forms.