A DISABLED man from Chagford is angry at plans to sell off his local community hospital.

NHS bosses have confirmed Moretonhampstead Community Hospital will be vacated by the end of this month.

But Chris Park, who is regularly treated by district nurses based at the hospital, says the decision to move them to what he describes as an ‘industrial unit’ will be detrimental to both patients and nurses.

Chris, who previously worked as an architectural designer, believes the new premises will be not be fit for purpose, mean patients have to travel further and increase pressure on local GP services.

Chris has mobility issues following a traumatic brain injury.

He explained: ’I go to Moretonhampstead Hospital regularly for treatment such as catheter changes and have attended for leg dressings.

‘The district nurses have been given a very short timeframe to move out of the hospital, a substantial and iconic building, to an industrial unit.

‘My concerns are there will be no clinical space and they will no longer be able see patients where they are based.

‘This means I will have to travel further to be seen or district nurses travel to do more home visits, which means less time seeing patients, further stretching an already very busy service.’

He believes local GP surgeries will not be able to step up as they are running out of space for services they already make rooms available for.

He claimed the hospital building has been allowed to fall into disrepair and services have been reduced or funding withdrawn to make it less viable.

He said: ‘Clearly this is a major loss for the locality and I know from my architectural designer past that an industrial unit will be ill-designed, not fit for purpose and definitely not be able to accommodate the same class of services or provide the same visible presence.

‘We are in danger of losing an irreplaceable clinical building and adding more strain to an already struggling NHS and causing emotional and mental strain to the district nurses and their patients.

‘It seems ludicrous the NHS is selling a building it owns to rent another building, at a time when the NHS is in need of valuable bed and clinical space.’

NHS Devon says the building is being vacated due to ‘safety and infrastructure issues’

The building, which pre-dates the NHS, is ‘old and outdated’ and suffered further deterioration over the past few months, including damp, so it is an ‘unsafe environment for staff and patient care’.

The high costs on such an old building, only used by a small number of patients, is not viewed as a good use of taxpayer’s money by NHS Devon.

In July, the Estates Director from NHS Devon will update the community to discuss the next steps to hand back the hospital building.

NHS Devon has been working with community representatives, chaired by the Moretonhampstead Parish Council as part of ongoing involvement and engagement.

An NHS spokesman said: ‘The community nursing team will continue to provide the same services as currently, with the only difference being the leg ulcer service and patients requiring catheter/dressing changes.

‘Where there was a need for patients to visit the hospital for these services, and where possible, this can now be done in people’s homes.’