Large turnout for meeting on Community Hospital

On Friday 12^th April there was a public meeting at Okehampton’s Ockment Centre on reopening two ‘dormant’ wards at Okehampton Community Hospital.

“The turnout for the meeting was very encouraging,” said Liberal Democrat District Councillor George Dexter, who helped organise the meeting. “The Ockment Centre had set up the room for 80 people, so to get over 160 people was fantastic. There was literally standing room only.”

“Okehampton Hospital has always been an important issue locally, but I was delighted so many attended,” commented former Okehampton Mayor, Jan Goffey, who helped chair the meeting.

Two wards at the hospital have lain empty for the last six years at a nominal cost to the NHS of £1.2 million.

“We are told that bed-blocking is a significant factor in the unprecedentedly long NHS waiting list. So it seems crazy not to be using these two wards at Okehampton Hospital to ease pressures at the local major surgical hospitals,” observed Mark Wooding, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Central Devon, who chaired the meeting.

“This is an important issue for Okehampton, but also for the wider rural community. For too long we have seen services and resources stripped from rural towns and villages in favour of the cities. The mobile library service has been cancelled; bus services are patchy and infrequent, if they exist at all; banks close; schools are under resourced; the roads are shocking; above all heath-care and dental provision is poor.”

“There is mention of a hospital in Okehampton in 1600s,” observed Jan Goffey. “Two decades ago, our old Memorial Hospital, which the current hospital replaced, had a  full complement of services. Since then services have been stripped out, whilst at the same time the local community has grown in size. It just doesn’t make sense.”

“Okehampton is experiencing very significant growth. The Town Council project an increase in the local areas’ population to 42,000 over the next few years,” said Mark Wooding. “You only have to look to the east of Okehampton to see the explosive growth in building. Many new homes are being built, but they lack the necessary supporting infrastructure. That’s not building a community it is building a dormitory.

“I think the case for reopening the wards is clear. The population is growing and the largest segments are young families and retirees, both groups who make particular demands on health services. Despite the welcome improvements to the Okehampton rail line public transport is limited, even more so in the outlying villages. So journeys to Plymouth and Exeter hospitals take at least 1 hour, often very much longer. Many people do not have cars, and those that do have to navigate often poor and crowded roads.”

“It’s time for Okehampton to be given more autonomy over its health services,” suggested Town Councillor Mark Richards at the meeting. “It is no longer acceptable that Okehampton is treated as some sort of suburb of Exeter.”

The meeting heard that the cross-community group the North Dartmoor Health Initiative would be taking forward the campaign to reopen the wards.

“I am delighted the community has come together to support its hospital. The case for Okehampton Hospital offering and doing more is clear,” concluded Mark Wooding. “We look now to the NHS Devon Integrated Care Board to make a positive response.”

As part of the campaign to reopen the two wards the ‘Okehampton Hospital Chronicle’ has been set up to capture people’s memories of the hospital. So far over 40 contributions have been made by local residents. If people would like to contribute a memory they can record their memory confidentially online here.