CLOSURE threats hanging over community hospitals across South Devon – including Ashburton and Bovey Tracey – have reared their ugly head again.

Opponents of the 2013 round of shutdowns have once again condemned the move – and vowed to fight yet another battle with health chiefs.

They claim the arguments which they won last time around to save the hospitals have been forgotten by health chiefs who, they fear, seem hell-bent on closure at any cost.

Among those fuming over the return of the contentious issue is Ashburton town councillor and local League of Friends chairman Sarah Khan who said of the latest plans by the South Devon and Torbay Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG): ‘They are coming back with the same old story. And once again the most vulnerable in our community will suffer.’

She complained: ‘This is not acceptable. These proposals are being rushed through before people have a chance to consider the implications.’

A public consultation process has been pencilled in for May14 to August 5.

‘This is short-term and short-sighted action just to save a bit of money. And once we lose these hospitals, we lose them forever,’ thundered Cllr Khan.

She revealed that the announcement about closures was made during a stakeholders’ public engagement meeting yesterday when the hospitals for the chop were confirmed as Ashburton and Buckfastleigh, Bovey Tracey, Paignton and Dartmouth.

She said arguments that patients with complex needs could be treated at home or in nursing establishments did not wash.

‘These nursing homes are closing. To have a basic sea change in medical care based on talks with private home owners does not seem like a solid foundation for clinical calls for change,’ argued Cllr Khan.

Her disappointment at the closure news was echoed by Bovey Tracey League of Friends chairman Avril Kerswell.

She said: ‘It’s all very distressing - hugely distressing. The CCG are recommending through their consultation that the four hospitals be closed with that lost care going into the community. That’s fine if it works - but it doesn’t always work.’

She expressed her disgust that the last nine in-patient beds taken from the town’s hospital at Christmas had not been returned, as promised, at the end of March.

‘Nobody from the NHS had the courtesy to tell us they were sorry that the beds would not be coming back as planned,’ she said.

She revealed that comments suggesting the hospital would be sold off would be contested.

‘I think it’s deplorable. The people of Bovey Tracey built and paid for their hospital in the 1930s. The NHS has morally broken its contract with Bovey Tracey by saying it will sell the building,’ she claimed.

She hoped townspeople would attend the annual meeting of the League which meets at the Methodist Hall on April 19 at 7pm.

She said any public consultation was flawed if it omitted the simple question: ‘Would you like to keep your hospital open?’

‘I do feel as if we are going backwards on all this,’ she said.

A South Devon and Torbay Clinical Commissioning Group spokesman said this afternoon: ‘The possibility of 10-bed Ashburton and 9-bed Bovey Tracey community hospitals closing is an option that was discussed at stakeholder and staff meetings this week as part of the development of a new model of care designed to support people closer to or in their own homes.

‘The proposed model of care is about people, not buildings. The aim is to enable GPs, health and social care teams and voluntary groups to work more closely together to keep people out of hospital by meeting the vast majority people’s health and wellbeing needs within their local communities.’

He added: ‘The proposed approach is likely to see increased investment in local community services, fewer hospital beds and a reduced number of minor injuries units which would be open for longer hours, have x-ray facilities and a more comprehensive range of services.

‘For some months the CCG has been working with Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and engaging with local groups to develop new ways of delivering services.

‘If the consultation proposals are approved by the CCG’s Governing Body later this month, a 12-week consultation will begin in May, designed to explain the new model of care and to find out what local people think about it.

‘Full details of these proposals will be considered by the Governing Body at its meeting on April 28 with papers being published at the end of next week.’