PLANS have been put in place for a public meeting to be held on April 19 to provide information about the future of Holsworthy Community Hospital’s inpatient beds.

The meeting has been arranged by Holsworthy Town Council, assisted by Holsworthy Hospital League of Friends in association with the NHS and will be chaired by mayor Jon Hutchings.

Cllr Hutchings said: “I urge people to come along to this meeting. There will be around 350 chairs available at each meeting and we need to fill them twice.

“It is important people come and show their support as this will be a very informative meeting where we can really start to discuss the way forward.”

People attending the meeting will be updated on efforts to reopen beds at the hospital, closed temporarily last year due to safety concerns.

They will also have the opportunity to quiz Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust (NDHT), which runs the hospital, and NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (NEW Devon CCG), who are responsible for longer-term planning of services.

The public meeting was spearheaded by Cllr Hutchings and Devon County Councillor Barry Parsons, who have been in discussions with the CCG since they stepped down from their positions on a stakeholder group run by NDHT.

The stakeholder group was initially set up by NDHT to investigate whether it could safely reopen the inpatient beds at Holsworthy Community Hospital, which were closed temporarily in March 2017.

On February 5, 2018, Cllrs Parsons and Hutchings met with senior representatives from NEW Devon CCG for an informative and open conversation on both the current position of the inpatient beds and a way forward with public awareness and involvement.

The meeting concluded with a joint agreement for the councillors to arrange a public meeting to enable representatives from the CCG and NDHT to explain the current position with the inpatient beds at Holsworthy Hospital, and for the CCG to offer guidance and clarity on the next steps going forward.

Simon Tapley, chief operating officer for NEW Devon CCG, said: “The trust took the difficult decision to temporarily close 16 beds at the hospital last year on the basis of safety grounds.

“Since then the trust has been working with a group of local people and partner health and care organisations to explore the reasons for the temporary closure, and how the situation might be resolved.

“The purpose of the public meeting is to update the community on the outcome of these discussions and what this might mean for the future of care in the town.

“It is important that we hear the views of the local community about how services are currently meeting their needs.

“We have an open mind and look forward to listening to what local people have to say.”

The meeting will take place at Holsworthy Sports Hall on April 19 in two sessions. This is intended to ensure as many people as possible attend. The first begins at 3.30pm and the second at 7pm.

A defibrillator training course will be held in between the meetings at 5.30pm, organised by the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT).