Seaton Hospital wing was NOT handed back on 31 December

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Happy New Year. Here’s the latest from the Hospital campaign:

Just before Christmas, Devon NHS’s board told us that it had postponed its handover of part of Seaton Hospital to the Property Services company, which was due to have happened on 31st December. 

  • The delay came after we asked for the original report that the board had approved. We found that it referred only to the ‘former ward accommodation’ – the ground floor of the wing that they want to hand over – and NOT the wing as a whole, including first floor spaces which the NHS are still using (see photo). We pointed out that they therefore did not have authority to dispose of the whole wing.

We were also disturbed to see that the report claimed:

  • ‘The One Public Estate function hosted by Devon County Council are supportive of a disposal and have offered financial support of up to £20k per unit through the Brownfield Land Funding scheme to help with feasibility studies should a disposal result in housing units being developed.’ 

One Public Estate links public sector bodies’ estate policies, and what they have told me is rather different:

  • ‘Devon and Torbay OPE Partnership has not had informal or formal conversations about the disposal of parts of Seaton Hospital.’ – I am asking Devon NHS what’s been going on.

The way forward:

  • Our Seaton Hospital Steering Committee is moving ahead with work on how to use any spaces which are eventually handed back to NHS Property Services. 
  • Devon Health Scrutiny Committee is expecting to hear back from the Devon NHS board and Property Services at its meeting on 24 January. We will be discussing the agenda before the meeting with East Devon councillors who are members of the Committee.

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