NHS makes its report on Seaton Hospital available to me
Following my request, the Devon Integrated Commissioning Board (ICB), successor to the CCG which closed Seaton Hospital’s ward in 2017, has made public the report which was used to make the decision on 4 October to potentially hand the ward building back to NHS Property Services, which could lead to its demolition. In the interests of public information I am publishing this in full. The first page is reproduced as a photo – the remainder of the report continues as text.
However this report presents a distorted history of the hospital and in a following post I will spell out precisely why it cannot be accepted.
The beds were removed following full public consultation when new ways of looking after people in the local community – often in their own home – were brought in and they have been very successful.
The Your Future Care consultation ran from 7 October 2016 until 6 January 2017 and was led by the then-Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). It focussed on proposals to provide more care and support for elderly and frail people at home and in the community. The aim was to prevent unnecessary admissions to hospital and, if patients need to go to hospital, to get home as quickly as possible, improving their chances of a better recovery.
Throughout the consultation period, the CCG attended over 70 events and public meetings. More than 2,000 people attended these events and discussed the proposals. 1,552 responses to the survey were received, in addition to more than 650 letters and emails.
Separately, ownership of Seaton Community Hospital transferred from the then- Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust to NHS Property Services in 2016 when the community services contract moved from NDHT to the then-Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust.
NHS Property Services charges market rent and other property costs on empty space in its buildings. Where there is no tenant, these ‘void costs’ are paid by the integrated care board, in this case NHS Devon.
Since the Your Future Care consultation, vacant space at the hospital, including the empty ward and linked office space, has cost the NHS in Devon around £1.5millon – poor use of taxpayers’ money. The ward has been fully decommissioned, with utilities disconnected to reduce service charges.
Working with health, care and community partners
This year we have been working with local health, care and community partners to see if they are interested and able to take on the space. These partners include:
o NHS Devon commissioning colleagues o Devon’s acute trusts
o Devon’s mental health providers
o Local GPs
o The Eastern Local Care Partnership
o Local voluntary, community and social enterprise sector groups o Other commissioners
o Other interested parties
With all partners who have expressed an interest in occupying the space, we have been clear that any proposal would need be viable financially, which means being able to cover the cost of bringing the building back up to useable standard, reconfiguring it and then paying the annual rent and service costs. We estimate that the cost of bringing it back into a usable condition would be significant.
Generally, hospital buildings need to be built and maintained to a higher standard than normal commercial buildings, which means they can be comparatively expensive to occupy.
This has meant some local groups would like to occupy the space but can’t afford to and no viable schemes have been received from any of the partners we have approached about occupying the ward.
With that in mind, and faced with ongoing stark financial challenges, we have started the process of surrendering this space so we can save the money that is not currently able to benefit patients. We took a decision on this in September, which effectively means we are in the process of handing the former ward area back to the building owner, NHS Property Services.
No NHS services affected
No NHS services are affected by this work. All services at the hospital continue as normal and there is no proposal to change any services. Local people should continue to attend appointments at the hospital as normal.
Next steps
The current position is that negotiations with NHSPS continue on what will happen next as the handback process is not straightforward.
We have always been very happy to talk to prospective occupants of the space if they have a financially viable scheme to take it on – and we remain so.
Ideally, a solution will be found that involves a positive future for the former ward but the NHS in Devon is under significant pressure to tackle its financial challenges and any possible solutions need to be found as quickly as possible, mindful of the ongoing and significant financial burden the empty space places on our finances.
There are many possible ways forward and all of them are being explored. If the ward was handed back to NHS Property Services, it would be for NHS Property Services to determine what to do with the building.
We continue to meet with local partners to talk about this work.
Sign the petition to save Seaton Hospital
Our MP, Richard Foord, has got straight on the case:
- he raised it in Parliament today
- and has launched a petition (SIGN HERE).
FOLLOW THIS BLOG for more news of local action on the hospital.
Outrageous proposal to demolish part of Seaton Hospital
www.midweekherald.co.uk/news/23859905.wing-seaton-hospital-demolished-save-nhs-money/
When the Conservatives allowed the removal of Seaton Hospital’s beds to go ahead in 2017, it looked as though the next step was the complete closure of the hospital, which the government was giving incentives for at the time. The resolute community opposition to the whole scheme derailed this plan. Now it’s back in a new form – the partial demolition of the hospital.
The League of Friends, Re:store, Richard Foord MP and Paul Arnott, Leader of EDDC, are already on the case. But the local community will need to act. The NHS managers we fought last time have obviously moved on and the new ones don’t know what the Seaton community is made of. They’re in for a big surprise. I’ve spent some of my ‘retirement’ researching the history of protest movements and I now know a lot about direct action. If the NHS has any sense they’ll drop this idea pronto.
Closed community hospital goes up for auction
A reminder of what the Tories had in mind for Seaton Hospital in 2016-17.
From East Devon Watch:
The former Bovey Tracey Hospital, a purpose-built two-story purpose-built cottage hospital constructed in 1931, has remained closed since 2017 Daniel Clark http://www.devonlive.com A former Devon hospital which was controversially closed in 2017 is set to go up for auction. The former Bovey Tracey Hospital, a purpose-built two-story purpose-built cottage hospital constructed in 1931, has remained…
— Read on eastdevonwatch.org/2023/10/13/inside-closed-devon-hospital-as-it-goes-up-for-auction/
And this is why the change at EDDC matters: leader writes to MPs about government’s ‘flawed’ housing targets
In an open letter to MPs, East Devon District Council’s Leader, and the Portfolio Holder for Strategic Planning, express the Strategic Planning Committee’s concerns about the pressures imposed by new houses. The letter to Mel Stride, MP for Central Devon, Richard Foord, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, and Simon Jupp, MP for…
— Read on eastdevonwatch.org/2023/10/12/east-devon-district-council-writes-to-mps-about-the-governments-flawed-housing-targets/
EDDC Changing of the Guard – the last chapter | East Devon Watch
Mark Williams, Chief Executive, East Devon District Council (EDDC) has announced his resignation, after 21 years, through the EDDC press office, see below. Mark Williams was not only Chief Executive and Head of Paid Services, a combination of roles quite common in local government, but unusually he was also Head of Development Management (under the…
— Read on eastdevonwatch.org/2023/10/12/eddc-changing-of-the-guard-the-last-chapter/
New tourist website for Seaton – I really like the video
Looking for things to do or places to stay in Seaton? Head to Visit Seaton and discover the beautiful Jurassic Coast.
— Read on www.visitdevon.co.uk/sidmouth/seaton/
Richard Foord points people to help with the cost of living this autumn
Help with the cost of living this autumn
— Read on mailchi.mp/6f2c7dd8a421/reporting-back-april-6251255
Tory candidate boasts of stopping 20 mph zones
When I was county councillor, one of the biggest complaints I got was about speeding through residential areas. Virtually all the parishes I represented put in for 20 mph zones through their villages and towns – not that it did them much good with the Tory-controlled county council, which even before its financial crisis did everything it could to avoid meeting these requests.
But now Simon Jupp – the current Exmouth MP who is abandoning his constituents to try his luck in our area next time – has used his column to boast of stopping the “blanket imposition of 20 mph zones”. If only, Simon! Talk to the people who want to represent before trotting out Sunak’s latest pro-boy racer talking point.
www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/23829335.this-government-continuing-back-motorists-across-uk/
General Election forecast shows just how close it could be in our area
A projection has been made for the Honiton and Sidmouth seat (which includes Seaton), showing Richard Foord, our Lib Dem MP, potentially retaining his seat but with a majority of just 847, not the 6000 he had in last year’s by-election.
While projections like this are full of all sorts of imponderables, this is based on a lot of data and I think it’s a good best guess. Basically they’re assuming that while Labour and the Greens will not be in with a chance of winning (and that seems to be the Labour Party’s own view, as I posted yesterday) they could take enough votes back to make it very close for Richard Foord.
If they’re right, voters in this area will have a choice – do we want to be one of the few places still to have a discredited Tory MP, or do we want to keep our successful Lib Dem MP who is likely to give constructive, but where necessary critical, support to the new Labour government? To me it’s a no-brainer.
Here are the Stonehaven projections:
Lib Dem 16262, Conservative 15415, Labour 10121, Green 6148, Reform 2050. Lib Dem majority 847.
