MP supports residents plea for a health and wellbeing centre despite being unable to attend public meeting.

MP Dr Sarah Wollaston has pledged her support to the residents of Dartmouth in the battle to secure a health and wellbeing centre for the town and surrounding area.

The public meeting scheduled for Monday, May 14, will give residents a chance to challenge the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust after the closure of the hospital and the collapse of the plans to open the centre at the former River View care home in Townstal.

Despite residents hoping otherwise, Wollaston has said she will be unable to attend the 7pm meeting at St Saviour’s Church.

“The meeting is on a day when Parliament is sitting and I have a very long standing commitment chairing a visit of the Health and Social Care Committee that day and would not be able to get back in time to attend” she explained.

However, the local MP has given her support to the town and has said she will continue to campaign on their behalf.

She said she hopes the owners of River View will “have a change of heart” and will agree to lease or more preferably sell to the Trust.

“I understand that the NHS cannot pay above its valuation, but it would be helpful if the Trust were able to set out in detail the efforts that they and many others have made to try and move forwards with this.”

The MP said how “hugely disappointing” it was that the plans fell through because it would have provided the “fastest route to securing an alternative site”. This would have allowed all services including GPs, community nursing, community beds, Dartmouth Caring and community clinics to be housed under one roof.

“If there is no prospect at all of the River View site, then the Trust and the CCG need to set out where they hope to build an alternative, how this will be taken forward with realistic timelines and funding” she added.

While this is being planned and constructed, Wollaston said the community will want to know what arrangements are being made for “local people”. This is in reference to the need for community beds and support to help people rebuild independence to manage life at home.

The Trust and the CCG set out in the original plans that the changes would allow the organisation to “support more local people” explained the local MP. “I know that the community will want to see evidence of the support that is being provided.”

“I also know there is rightly considerable interest in what will happen to the original Dartmouth hospital”. The funds for the hospital were raised by “local people” and Wollaston believes an “equivalent amount of money from the sale of the site should be used to benefit the community”.

“I will continue to make the case at national level for more funding to the NHS, social care and public health and for the needs of more isolated and rural communities especially those with high levels of deprivation to be recognised.

“I am encouraged by the Prime Minister’s response at the Liaison Committee to my cross party letter on funding and will be meeting with her to discuss this further.

“The challenges go beyond funding and include the need to train and retain the NHS and social care workforce both in hospitals and the community.

“New facilities at Dartmouth could also act as a training hub to help us to attract, train and retain the workforce of the future.”