NHS South Devon and Torbay CCG are consulting on closing four local hospitals in order to increase ‘community-based care’.
The proposals, aim to swap ‘resources from bed-based hospital care to community-based care’ by reducing the number of hospital beds, and therefore closing Ashburton, Bovey Tracey, Dartmouth and Paignton hospitals.
The CCG says that that this will allow ‘investment in community-based services including community nurses, physiotherapists occupational therapists and social care staff to support people in their own homes.’
According to the original proposal published in April, this would allow them to invest £3.9m in community services, with proposals including creating a locality clinical hub for each of the four localities involved, creating health and well-being centres and providing intermediate care in people’s homes.
The public consultation will run from 1 September to 23 November.
