South Devon’s MPs have turned up the heat on the area’s healthcare providers amid fears for the safety of local heart patients.

The integrated care board (ICB) which administers health services is consulting on a plan to stop out-of-hours coronary care in Torbay and move treatment to Exeter instead.

MPs fear that could cost lives.

Speaking during a House of Commons debate on hospitals, Torbay Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling said services were under ‘immediate pressure’ in the bay.

He went on: “There are cuts to out-of-hours coronary care services that could put those in Torbay and nearby constituencies such as South Devon at risk of tissue death because there are not fast enough interventions for coronary conditions.”

South Devon’s Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden took up the theme, adding: “Those in the largely rural area of South Devon will be severely threatened by the closure of out-of-hours coronary care in Torbay because somebody decided it would be a good idea to merge it with coronary care in Exeter, meaning a potential increase of up to 45 minutes in ambulance times for constituents from the south of my constituency to get to hospital.

“It is clearly going to put people in critical danger, and we desperately need the ICB to reconsider this poorly thought-out decision.”

Mr Darling, meanwhile, is pressing for an urgent meeting with the board to explain the rationale behind the change and the benefits Torbay might see from it.

In a letter to the board’s chief executive following the Commons debate he said: “Your cardiologists have told us that for residents in Torbay, Dartmouth or elsewhere in South Devon their chances of full recovery from a heart attack could be severely impacted by the extra time needed to get to Exeter.

“In our view this does not provide equitable care for all – would you agree?”