Trish Donohue, of Russell Close, East Budleigh, writes:

It was with great sadness when I read that Teignmouth Hospital could well be closed in the near future.

Teignmouth Hospital was built as a legacy for all the people in Teignmouth and the surrounding areas to receive NHS care. My late father worked at the hospital in Mill Lane for many years. He originally worked at the hospital in Landscore Road before the new NHS facility was built in Mill Lane in 1954.

He was the hospital gardener and moved his tools in a wheelbarrow from Landscore Road to Mill Lane to start his long period of service in the new hospital grounds. In those days he grew vegetables every year which were used in the hospital kitchens to provide fresh daily meals for patients (food miles zero) along with tending the grounds year in, year out so patients and staff alike could enjoy their surroundings.

Many patients would be taken outside on to the hospital verandah when recuperating to benefit from the green space and views around them.

I have many happy memories as a child of the hospital and its staff who were always welcoming when I helped my father in the school holidays. It was a place that had a huge part to play in the community. My father worked and died in Teignmouth Hospital – it was there for him right up until the end of his life.

Now, you may say this is sentimental and times have moved on but people shape places and places shape people and having the facilities of a hospital available to all who live nearby has a profound effect on their lives.

The town is looking for a new health centre to bring several GP practices together so what could be more fitting than to use the existing hospital premises with space and parking that is already equipped with medical resources to provide what the town needs. Provide the beds, provide the facilities, provide the care without having to pay for a new building and all that requires to equip it. Why does it have to close? It is quite clear from many other towns that this is the way smaller hospitals are treated with the larger ones struggling to cope year on year especially in winter time.

I ask the CCG and Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust to consider their proposal. Why can Teignmouth Hospital not be a beacon of progress, thought and innovation and prove that you do not need to close every small hospital to keep the NHS alive?

People are cynical and it is easy to see why when promises were made but have not come to fruition. People need to be listened to and clear thought through suggestions should be considered to look at every possible solution to ensure that the place that shaped my father’s life can continue to shape the future of NHS care in Teignmouth.