THE news that Holsworthy has been waiting for — the inpatient beds are to reopen at Holsworthy Community Hospital, writes Zoë Uglow.

The beds were closed temporarily in March 2017 by the Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust (NDHT) and it has been a long fought battle over the past 12 months to see them reopen, but finally the good news was announced on Thursday, April 19, at a public meeting chaired by Holsworthy Town Council and attended by representatives of the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

At the time of the temporary closure the CCG was presented with a range of information from NDHT and additional data was then received from the public in the 12 months prior.

Having reviewed this latest information, the CCG has said it is ‘no longer able to support the temporary closure’ and it has formally requested NDHT works to reopen the beds as soon as it is safe to do so.

NDHT must now provide the CCG with information regarding how they intend to tackle the issues they stated as reasons for temporary closure.

Two members of the CCG attended the afternoon and evening sessions of a public meeting held in Holsworthy on Thursday to announce the reopening and to discuss with the public what the CCG can do to ensure a bespoke service for Holsworthy is provided.

First to speak was Mr Simon Tapley, who is the Northern, Eastern and Western Devon (NEW Devon) CCG interim chief officer and chief operating officer. He has worked in the health service for 25 years and is Devon born.

He explained briefly the role of the CCG: “Our job as a clinical commissioning group is to receive money from NHS England, that’s the national organisation that gets money from treasury. We get allocated a pot of money based on a formula that is nationally calculated. What we do then is assess the needs of the population of Devon, produce a plan, then our job is to buy services from providers. We then have a contract with those providers, and our next duty is to monitor those contracts properly and that we receive what we have paid for.”

He added that the CCG also have a responsibility to engage and if appropriate consult with the public about changes to services.

Also on the panel was Dr John Womersley, CCG clinical lead for the northern locality, mayor of Holsworthy Jon Hutchings and Devon County Councillor Barry Parsons.

No-one from NDHT was attendance. A spokesperson for NDHT told the Post that the CCG had requested they did not attend the meeting. They said: “The CCG has a duty to engage and wanted to understand people’s concerns. There was no need for the provider to be in attendance for this.”

Mr Tapley then made the announcement everyone had come to hear: that an implementation programme had been requested so the beds could be re-opened at Holsworthy Community Hospital — the room erupted into applause.

Cllr Hutchings said: “In light of what we have just heard, firstly I would like to thank Barry [Parsons, Devon County councillor] and Geoffrey [Cox, MP for Torridge and West Devon] for their support. I believe today’s decision is largely due to their continued support.

“Today’s decision is fantastic news, not just for Holsworthy but all the surrounding areas as well. However, we must not be complacent. The real battle has only just begun. We have to now convince the CCG that our hospital is not only needed but is sustainable.”

He added that although the CCG may not be ‘in a position given its statutory obligations’ to provide a service that ‘we would like’ they will work alongside the people of Holsworthy in a new stakeholder group to assess and establish what it is the community wants and needs.

Cllr Parsons thanked the public for their patience over the last 12 months. He said: “I didn’t quite expect this, though I am thrilled to bits. I am fully aware that this is the start of another journey. But, never say never.

“I have to say to the CCG, thank you for listening. Let us continue to work together and build a solution that is fit for this locality.”

MP for Torridge and West Devon Geoffrey Cox was unable to attend as he was sitting in the House of Commons that day. A statement he had written prior to the meeting said: “I am continuing to monitor the situation and impress the health organisations responsible to recognise the need for community beds in Holsworthy and to make a real effort to reopen the facility. I cannot believe it is a fair or acceptable position that there are no community beds in Devon west of Torridge.

“Our communities are entitled to expect a sincere and serious effort be made to resolve the disparity in services available to them.”

Following the meeting, he said: “Having worked closely with the mayor, Jon Hutchings, county councillor, Barry Parsons, and the mayor’s working group, I commend their efforts which have no doubt helped to bring about this positive development. I shall maintain my recent discussions on this issue with the CCG and the NDHT and look forward to developments in connection with the re-opening.”

Also unable to attend the meeting was Dr David Hillebrandt, a semi-retired GP from Holsworthy, who has been campaigning since the closure to see Holsworthy’s inpatient beds re-opened.

He passed a statement to Cllr Hutchings to read out on his behalf. In the letter Dr Hillebrandt said he believes through careful liaison with the surrounding district general hospitals the beds in Holsworthy could relieve some of the pressure faced by those in Barnstaple, Exeter and Plymouth.

He said he is ‘thrilled’ that the CCG are engaging with the public and he sees this as a ‘major step forward’, adding: “We all need to take a long term view, to keep an open mind to new ideas but also fight for what we know our community needs.”

NDHT are now ‘required’ to implement a plan that will see the inpatient beds are reopened. However, a timescale for when the beds would reopen was unable to be provided.

Following the meeting Andy Ibbs, interim chief executive at Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “We fully understand the CCG’s position and we are supportive of their intention to start an engagement process on the long-term future of services in the Holsworthy area.

“Any plans to reopen the beds would require recruitment to our nursing, therapy, healthcare assistant and hotel services vacancies to ensure we can safely run the inpatient services. This will be no easy task, but we fully support the requirement for us to do our best to address the staffing and safety concerns which led to the temporary closure.”

The next step will be a CCG led engagement process to discuss the long term future of services in the Holsworthy area and through this group the CCG will share with the population all the information they discuss.

Thanks were expressed at both meetings to Cllrs Hutchings and Parsons and Mr Cox for the ‘hard work and dedication’ they have given to get the inpatient beds reopened.

At this time the beds remain temporarily closed but the day case unit’s services at the hospital remain operational.