HEALTH chiefs were given a rough ride at Ashburton this week as angry protestors told them at a public meeting in the town: 'Hands off our hospital. We don't want it moved to Newton Abbot.'

A heated two-hour debate on plans to relocate ten inpatient beds to the market town's brand new 'white elephant' hospital climaxed with 200 people voting unanimously in favour of keeping threatened Ashburton and Buckfastleigh Hospital as a community facility.

Senior care trust officials were subjected to a prolonged verbal attack by a flood of speakers from the floor anxious for their rejection arguments to be heard and noted.

They demanded that the representatives from the Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust – which called the meeting – to tell them at the close exactly how they interpreted the mood of the meeting.