AN update has been released by the independent chairperson of the Holsworthy Community Hospital Stakeholder Group on the progress being made to reopen the ‘temporarily’ closed inpatient beds.

In March the Northern Devon Healthcare Trust (NDHT) announced it would ‘temporarily close’ the inpatient beds at Holworthy Hospital on safety grounds, due to low bend occupancy and staff retention issues.

Following the period of purdah, due to the general election, the Trust joined with town, district and county councillors and other representatives to form a stakeholder group to consider all the requirements necessary to reopen the inpatient beds at the hospital.

The composition of the group comprises not only councillors and members from the Trust but also the local GP practices, hospital league of friends and key community representatives and is coordinated by Steve Holt, the independent chairperson.

The stakeholder group includes: Katherine Allen and Nellie Guttmann, NDHT; Barry Parsons, Devon County Council; Peter Watson and Phillip Hackett, Torridge District Council; Jon Hutchings, Holsworthy mayor; John Allen, Holsworthy Hospital League of Friends; Rob Shaw, Holsworthy Medical Centre; Alan Howlett, Black House Surgery; David Rogers, Healthwatch; Keely Dempsey, North Devon Hospice; Penny Smith, patient representative; Sue Banks, community representative; Geoff Cusick, Holsworthy Town Council representative; Amanda Jennings, Holsworthy Hospital.

The group first met in July with the main aim of ensuring that all members were brought up to date with the latest situation, to hear statements, concerns and information surrounding the decision to close the beds and to agree the terms of reference for the future.

There are two key elements of focus for the group. They will work to understand the reasons for the decreased occupancy and how this could be reversed to reach the number of appropriate patients needed to reopen the beds. They will also charge the Trust with ensuring that sufficient staff are available once the occupancy issues have been resolved.

The group has now met on four occasions with specific actions being taken towards the terms of reference.

Patient feedback and data has been received through Cllr Hutchings, which has been analysed by the Trust. The group has also written to all neighbouring hospitals to discover whether people had been denied access to the Holsworthy inpatient services in the past. Unfortunately, information was not forthcoming so at the meeting in August it was agreed to formalise the requests through freedom of information letters, to relevant parties, from the group through the chair.

A spokesperson said: “We are hopeful of responses by the time the group meets again at the beginning of November.“

The group is also looking at referrals to the hospital from the primary care sector, in particular the surgeries in Holsworthy and Black Torrington. With data on the table at the September meeting regarding GP/patient experiences the Trust is now contacting other neighbouring GP practices to establish whether referrals from their catchment area to Holsworthy Hospital would contribute towards defining a greater need for beds at the hospital.

The spokesperson said: “We are asking all local GPs to collect data on patients they feel need a bed, the reasons why and what care was put in place to meet their needs in the absence of beds, so the group can collect a running total of patient need.”

In order to reopen the beds at a minimum occupancy level of 80%, there needs to be around one new patient admitted each day. The group have said it will work to identify whether there is a sufficient patient cohort whose care would best be provided in Holsworthy Community Hospital to reach this 80% occupancy level.

The spokesperson added: “The community in Holsworthy and its environs may perceive progress to be slow and the group will admit that there has been some frustration regarding the pace of developments to date.

“However, a great deal of work has happened behind the scenes, and the delays due to the elections and the summer holidays are now behind us.”

At the September meeting the chief executive of the Trust Dr Alison Diamond, attended and reiterated her continued support to providing the resources in order to bottom out the analysis surrounding patient availability. She has also spoken on the group’s behalf to the NEW Devon CCG and the operations director will be invited to attend the November meeting to establish how they may assist in ensuring that all pathways are covered regarding patient availability and placement.

Details of the group’s discussions and key communication points can be found on the NDHT website at www.northdevonhealth.nhs.uk/have-your-say/Holsworthyengagement