A STAKEHOLDER group, which was set up in response to the temporary closure of inpatient beds at Holsworthy Hospital, had its first meeting on Tuesday, July 4.

The group is independently chaired and has representatives from Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, town, district and county councils, members of the League of Friends, Healthwatch and GPs, as well as patient and community representatives.

At the meeting, the group agreed its objective is to oversee the work required to address the safety concerns in order to reopen the inpatient beds at Holsworthy Hospital.

During the meeting, the Trust outlined the work it will be undertaking to try to address these safety concerns, which they say includes ‘exploring whether we can increase the bed occupancy and then determining a sustainable staffing model’.

The group agreed that it wanted to keep staff and stakeholders informed about its progress with regular updates.

The Trust said: “It was a positive meeting, with everybody working together to look at the next steps.”

Mayor of Holsworthy Jon Hutchings, who sits on the group as a town council representative, reported back to the council about how the meeting had gone. He said: “There is still a lot to be done but it is still a temporary closure as far as I am concerned and I am a lot more positive than I was two weeks ago that our hospitals beds will be restored.”

The next meeting will take place in a couple of weeks, with further meetings taking place regularly as agreed by the group.