Campaigners criticise ‘scandalous betrayal’ over proposed hospital sale and services cut

Campaigners fighting for the future of an East Devon community hospital have hit out at its proposed sale and the possible removal of NHS services.

Martin Shaw, a longstanding campaigner who is part of efforts to protect Seaton Hospital, claimed the NHS had contacted the League of Friends organisation in the town to say it would sell the building to them at market price, and suggested the services offered there could be under threat.
NHS Devon said there were no proposed changes to services and that it had an ongoing review of the buildings it uses.
Mr Shaw queried the notion of the hospital being sold to the community given the hospital was funded through a community initiative in the 1980s, and a subsequent additional wing funded entirely by public donations in the 1990s.
“Why should we buy back what we have already paid for,” he asked at Devon County Council’s health and adult care scrutiny committee (Monday 22 September)..
Furthermore, Mr Shaw claimed there was a proposal to remove the remaining 19 services offered to patients at the site.
He criticised this proposal, especially given Seaton’s ageing population and its distance from the nearest acute hospital in Exeter.
“While the integrated care board (ICB) has neglected Seaton, there are 19 different services still provided there, and so it would be a scandalous new betrayal if these were withdrawn,” he said.
“Seaton is twice the size it was when the hospital was built, and has almost the oldest population in Devon and is the furthest from the Royal Devon & Exeter hospital.
“We have no direct buses to Exeter and one in six households has no car.”
Mr Shaw said the ICB’s supposed strategy was to move towards community care, “so I don’t see why Seaton should be the exception”, he said.
“Your committee has supported Seaton in the past and I ask it to do so again,” he told the committee’s chair, Councillor Jess Bailey (Independent, Otter Valley).
“We request the ICB abandons its proposal to withdraw NHS services and ask it to restore the hospital to full use and negotiate with our committee.
“I’d also ask for you to agree to put this matter as a full item on your next agenda”.
Councillor Paul Arnott (Liberal Democrat, Coly Valley), whose division includes Seaton, said the hospital had been the victim of a “political mess”, referring to a decision in the mid-2010s to remove hospital beds from various community hospitals in East Devon.
“Seaton hospital has so much potential to provide increased services and now it is under real threat yet again,” he said.
“It is the wrong time to do this, when we have local government reorganisation. Now is not the time to have hospitals under threat.”
Cllr Arnott added that the hospital had last year been made an ‘asset of community value’, something which could disrupt attempts to sell it.
“That registration as an asset of community value means if the NHS wants to sell off the site, it has to make an offer to local stakeholders first,” Cllr Arnott said.
“But the League of Friends has already paid for half the cost of building the thing, so why should they have to buy it back, especially when there is no guarantee the NHS will continue to use it for services.”
Responding to the proposals by the NHS, Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat, Honiton & Sidmouth), the area’s MP, agreed Seaton and Coly Valley residents would be “feeling a deep sense of betrayal”.
“Despite all our campaigning over the past two years and the thousands of petition signatures that we gathered, the views of the community appear to have been deliberately ignored,” he said.
“Seaton is a town with many older people and its hospital, only built a few decades ago, was paid for largely by the community, and it should not be in the gift of the NHS – nationally or regionally – to sell it.”
Mr Foord added that he was aware of NHS Devon’s “parlous finances”, ironically exacerbated by the high rent charges to it by another part of the health service.
“But we saw what selling off the silver did for the Conservatives – it kept them afloat for another year or two, but meant the loss of assets for generations to come,” he said.
“I will be meeting with the Seaton Hospital Steering Committee ASAP to discuss our next steps.”
A spokesperson for NHS Devon said the organisation was continuing to review its properties as part of a wider strategy.
“At this time, there are no proposed changes, nor have any service change processes taken place for NHS services or the Seaton community hospital site itself,” the spokesperson said.
“The commercial value of hospital sites will continue to be a key consideration in any work undertaken when reviewing or planning any changes to community hospitals in Devon, however, it’s important to note that the NHS bodies in Devon do not directly own all of the buildings in the estate portfolio.”
Devon’s health and adult care scrutiny committee is likely to discuss the issue at its next meeting in December.