Today the new Labour Chancellor condemned North Devon’s much loved hospital to further delays to its much needed infrastructure improvements.
North Devon District Hospital (NDDH) is the smallest and most remote acute hospital on the UK mainland. Many of its buildings are over 50 years old and the hospital has a substantial maintenance backlog preventing developments in modern healthcare, as well as making it harder to recruit the leading healthcare professionals to the site
The population served by our hospital is around 165,000 – yet this can more than double along the coast during the summer. Demand modelling has shown the hospital will exceed its urgent and emergency care capacity by 2027-28 which, given the distance and travel time to the nearest emergency department, poses a significant future risk to patients.
The original ‘Strategic Case for Change’, for £250m, was focussed on building a new technical block from 2027 that would incorporate new theatres, recovery suites, critical care and diagnostics. As North Devon’s MP I spent much time with health ministers from 2020 onwards alongside the Trust’s then Chief Executive to ensure these plans matched the Trust’s ambitions for the site. As well as providing more capacity for population growth and demand, this scheme would have enabled the Trust to mitigate the risk of failure of the current estate. The bill to correct the urgently needed works to critical infrastructure like theatres, ICU and wards currently stands at over £80m. This is just to keep things as they are.
In 2023 the plans for the hospital were expanded to a full re-build, however the majority of that rebuild was delayed. Again much time was spent lobbying ministers to secure the vital housing element on the hospital grounds to tackle the much needed housing element of the scheme.
Prior to the General Election we had been making progress in making the case to accelerate the phasing to address these critical maintenance needs by investing in the long term future of the hospital through the NHP. Government had provided £1.2million in the 2023/24 financial year to develop business cases for the demolition of two existing buildings, the construction of a new residential block and the re-provision of a parking area and the demolition of the existing car park site. It was always the case that the housing schemes needed to come first to help with longer term staffing problems. The overall pitch for NDDH was housing first with the promise of new and upgraded facilities.
Today, Labour have potentially dashed any hopes of the urgent and timely critical upgrades we need and in the form of yet another review have laid the foundation of a potential downgrade for NDDH. Labour do not understand rural issues, rural healthcare or rural connectivity. After 1997 one of the first things the new Labour Government did was to downgrade the North Devon Link Road from being a trunk road of national significance, this meant that National Highways were no longer responsible for it and its maintenance and upgrade became severely delayed and hampered as a result. Once again it looks like North Devon is to be downgraded by Labour. The Lib Dems will no doubt be appalled and will ‘fight for our hospital services’ but they will be ignored by Labour like the rest of rural Britain, ultimately it is only the Conservatives who can and do stand up for places like North Devon.
In North Devon there were 66 more Full Time Equivalent, direct patient, care staff working in general practice in September 2023 than there were in September 2019. In Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which serves North Devon, there were 65 more full-time-equivalent doctors and 198 more nurses in September 2023 than there were in September 2022. This showed the previous Conservative Government’s commitment to getting more staff into our rural healthcare system.
In April 2024 I received in writing from the then Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, Andrew Stephenson MP, assurances of the Government’s commitment to North Devon:
The New Hospital Programme, expected to be backed by more than £20 billion of funding, includes the North Devon scheme, comprising new build or refurbishment at North Devon District Hospital site in Barnstaple. We remain committed to the delivery of a new hospital for the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
On the 30th of January 2023 I asked the then I ask the then Secretary of State Steve Barclay in the Chamber:
I warmly welcome today’s announcement, but will my right hon. Friend explain how for remote rural hospitals, such as the fantastic North Devon District Hospital, the workforce challenges that were present pre-pandemic might be addressed post pandemic, when we are now also dealing with a housing crisis? Might there be an opportunity to expedite the next phase of the redevelopment programme, which includes key worker housing?
His response:
I am keen to explore with colleagues how we can put more key worker accommodation on to the NHS estate, particularly by making use of modern methods of construction to expedite that. On the workforce plan, Devon is an area that has seen particular growth, given its older population, and greater pressure as a consequence. Those pressures will be worked through in the workforce plan that we will bring forward shortly.
Then on the 6th of June 2023
I thank my right hon. Friend for reconfirming the investment into North Devon District Hospital. Will he meet with me, the hospital trust and my local housing association to ensure that the housing committed to on the Barnstaple site can rapidly commence?
His response:
I am very keen to meet with my hon. Friend. I know this is an extremely important scheme for her constituency, particularly the key worker accommodation, and I look forward to having that discussion with her and the leadership of her trust.
What changed? Well Labour promised change after the General Election and this is what change looks like for North Devon.
Our new “voice for North Devon” was silent in the Chamber this afternoon and said nothing to support our hospital’s much needed redevelopment.
For all the failings of the last Government, and there were many, we were delivering on health infrastructure in North Devon. The opening of the new Jubilee Ward for replacement hips and knees, along with the Coronation Suite which helps improve patient flow through the hospital, have both opened post pandemic and are delivering real improvements in patient care here. The success of our fantastic hospital team has been celebrated by numerous ministerial visits, and increased the last Government’s understanding of our health needs in rural North Devon. Unfortunately, just three weeks into a new regime, all that work appears to be unravelling. The new hospital was not coming fast enough whilst I was MP for North Devon, but it was at least being championed in Westminster, where decisions are taken, and was still coming.
Selaine Saxby, former Conservative MP for North Devon
Health Statement - 21 July 2021 | Selaine Saxby
Health Statement - 30th January 2023 | Selaine Saxby
Health and Social Care Question - 6th June 2023 | Selaine Saxby
