A DOCTOR, the chairman of Dartmouth Patients Group and the chairman of the Townstal Community Partnership are urging people to ‘get behind’ the new plans for health care in Dartmouth.

Following the news that Dartmouth and Kingswear Hospital might close as part of a ‘reshaping’ exercise to combat the £16m shortfall in funds, Dr Andrew Cynon-Lewis, GP principal at Dartmouth Medical Practice; Pierre Landell-Mills, chairman of Dartmouth Patients Group; and Steve Smith, chairman of Townstal Community Partnership, have been convinced that the NHS plan for local healthcare has ‘major advantages’.

The three of them signed a letter to the Chronicle that stated that ‘feel sad’ about the proposal to close the hospital, along with many other local people, but after ‘extensive discussions with local NHS managers’ they see that ‘the proposal needs to be seen in the wider context of the overall plan for health care for the Dartmouth area’.

Having ‘listened carefully to their explanations’, they are now ‘convinced’ that the proposals have ‘major advantages and merits public support’.

They say the reason for their support is that the NHS is proposing to put resources into a ‘range of local services’ that will ‘result in substantially improved healthcare for the people of Dartmouth and the surrounding areas’.

The proposals will see a new Dartmouth Health and Wellbeing Centre established in Townstal. This will include an improved GP surgery, at least four intermediate beds with NHS supervised nursing and a base for greatly enhanced care for patients in their homes and help the prompt and safe discharge from local hospitals.

The proposal also includes plans for recruiting and training nurses locally as well as therapists and careers to help overcome the current shortages. The practice is currently in the process of recruiting a highly-trained nurse specialist to provide a wide range of services, including minor injury care.

The NHS has been in talks with the owners of the River View Care Centre on Victory Road in Townstal and they have agreed a 35-year lease to accommodate the services, as well as taking over the responsibility for the care home with the ‘expectation that it will be run to a high standard’.

This would mean that the GP practice, the clinics, the base for home care support, the beds for rehabilitation and palliative care, minor injuries care, nursing home care, and voluntary organisations such as Dartmouth Caring and a pharmacy would all be under one roof – something that Dr Eynon-Lewis, Pierre Landell-Mills and Steve Smith say would be ‘fantastic—a major step toward achieving more joined up care’ as well as making parking easier.

They also say that the NHS plans to ‘strengthen’ the range of services available at Totnes Hospital and Minor Injuries Unit, reducing the need for trips Dartmouth resisdents take to Torbay Hospital.

They say: ‘If agreed with the community, this can all be put in place during 2017. It is not just a distant dream, so let’s all get behind it.’