Health chiefs have put a controversial trial on the care of South Devon heart attack patients on hold.

The ‘test and learn’ trial, which local politicians said could put lives at risk was pulled from the agenda of a Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB) meeting.

Chairman Kevin Orford told the meeting that deferring a decision would give the board time to consider the ‘valuable feedback’ the proposal had created.

Politicians of all parties had urged the ICB to rethink the plan to take some patients to Exeter rather than to Torbay Hospital for treatment.

They say the extra time taken – on average 28 minutes – could put lives at risk.

The ICB believes it will help cut costs as the number of heart attacks falls, and the impact of the safety and quality of the service would be ‘clinically acceptable’.

Mr Orford told the meeting: “We received a significant number of wide-ranging comments from clinicians, partners, patients, the public and elected representatives.

“In the light of those comments we took the decision to withdraw the paper.”

Mr Orford said the delay – until at least the end of July – would allow time for the feedback to be fully considered.

He went on: “Our key priority remains to commission a safe, reliable and sustainable service for the future, given the changes in demand.

“We will continue to work with clinicians and partners to achieve this, and find the most effective solution for the people of Devon. We remain committed to continued collaboration to find the best way forward for these services.”

NHS Devon is one of 42 integrated care boards across the country, and took over the statutory functions of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) on 1 July 2022.

Within their annual budget of £2.3 billion, we plan and buy the majority (two-thirds) of the hospital and community NHS services for the county.