DEVON'S health bosses want to hand back an empty ward at Okehampton hospital to its landlords after claiming it has cost the local NHS more than £1 million over six years.

A report by the Devon Integrated Care Board suggests the county’s NHS could save around £215,000 per year by returning the ward to NHS Property Services, which owns the health service’s properties and rents them back to local trusts.

With Devon’s NHS ending the most recent financial year with a £46 million deficit, the trust’s bosses are desperately searching for ways to save money.

The county’s health board is in special measures, meaning Devon gets intensive support from NHS England.

The NHS in Devon has a £212 million savings plan, but its December board papers show it is £32.5 million adrift from where it expected to be.

The plan to jettison the Okehampton ward comes shortly after it emerged that the NHS in Devon is also seeking to hand back a ward at Seaton Community Hospital.

However, local opposition there has been vocal, with Richard Foord MP (Lib Dem, Tiverton and Honiton) raising the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions in parliament.

Beds at the ward in Okehampton were removed in 2017 when the clinical commissioning group agreed to retain inpatient beds at Sidmouth, Exmouth and Tiverton community hospitals, but to close them in the West Devon town, as well as at Seaton, Whipton and Honiton.

Around the same time, ownership of the hospitals moved to NHS Property Services, which charges a market rent even on empty space.

Devon’s NHS said a consultation at the time about the changes to these hospitals, entitled "Your Future Care", involved 70 events and public meetings attended by more than 2,000 people.

It received more than 1,500 responses to it survey, along with 650 letters, but didn’t indicate the balance of views expressed, meaning it is unclear whether people supported or opposed the plans.

The report said the NHS in Devon hadn’t received a viable scheme so beds could return to the Okehampton ward, and the cost of bringing it back into a usable condition would be significant.

“Faced with ongoing stark financial challenges, we have started the process of surrendering this space so we can save the money being wasted,” the report said.

“On November 28, we took a decision which effectively means we are in the process of handing the former ward area – made up of the empty ward, associated link corridors and ancillary space – back to the owner of the building, NHS Property Services.

“Based on local discussions and our experience, we do not anticipate that local voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations would be able to take on the ward space.”

It added that it would still be talking to local organisations to confirm they were not able to take on the space, and would also be consulting them on how best to use the rest of the hospital that remains in use now.

Alison Stephenson

LDRS