Last week, over 500 people attended a meeting to demand answers from the local NHS Trust, Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and the Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group.

In St Saviours Church, Dartmouth, Liz Davenport from the Trust and Simon Tapley from the CCG attended as representatives to hear the views of residents and answer questions.

In 2017, Dartmouth Hospital joined the long list of Devon community hospitals to close their doors. A promise was made to open six new beds and a modern health and wellbeing centre in a nearby residential care home.

However, after months of discussion, these promises have been broken, the Save Our Hospital Service group has claimed. Dartmouth residents have been left with no hospital beds, no minor injuries unit, a two-hour bus ride to the nearest hospital care, and ambulances taking many hours to reach emergencies.

After 90 minutes of intense questioning the Trust and CCG said they would respond to the pleas of residents within 14 days.

The Save our Hospital Service have said the Trust and CCG gave no guarantee that the lost beds would be replaced and instead said people would be treated in their own homes.

Against these assurances, residents told stories of sick relatives and elderly neighbours left to cope alone, of healthcare workers trying to provide a hospital standard of care from their own cars and a reduced hourly wage.

At the meeting, the SOHS brought a message of solidarity from other communities in Devon.

The organisation challenged the Trust and CCG to explain why they agreed to cut £557 milllion from Devon’s healthcare budget, under pressure from NHS England, and what impact on people’s health they expect from axing 590 hospital beds or 1 in 6 of the county’s total.

At the end of the meeting, a vote of no confidence in the Trust and CCG was taken which many agreed to.

SOHS have collected hundreds of signatures, taking the number that have signed the petition to well over 6000. The petition will be presented to local Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston, Chair of the Commons Health and Social Care Select committee, calling on her to reverse the hospital cuts, asset sales and out-sourcing.

Sarah Wollaston was not at the meeting, but is scheduled to speak with constituents at Townstall Community Centre on Friday, June 22.

Meanwhile SOHS will continue to run street stalls in Dartmouth and in towns across Torbay and South Devon affected by the hospital cuts and closures.

There is a demonstration in Teignmouth on Saturday, June 2, to protest at plans to axe promised beds, after previous assurances from the Trust that hospital closure was not on the cards.

Additionally, SOHS and other local campaigners will be speaking at a rally from 12 noon at the Triangle.