Torbay Hospital has secured a further £8 million for urgent fire safety work in its Tower Block, with temporary changes to inpatient services planned to reduce the number of patients staying overnight in the building.

The additional funding comes after £1.8m was announced in September, which South Devon MP Caroline Voaden argued was insufficient to cover the extent of the work required.

Last week, Health Minister Karin Smyth declined Ms Voaden’s offer to visit the hospital as she pressed for further investment.

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust said the additional money would fund substantial improvements to fire compartmentation.

The work follows an enforcement notice from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, which has extended the deadline for the Trust to complete the required actions from November 6 to December 18.

The fire service said changes already made by the Trust had reduced the risks, but further action was needed to meet the notice’s requirements.

According to the Trust, no services are being closed, and all will remain within Torbay and South Devon.

Most changes will involve moving services within Torbay Hospital, but Simpson Ward, currently in the hospital’s Hetherington Unit, will temporarily move to Harbourne Ward at Totnes Community Hospital.

Respiratory inpatient services from Midgley Ward in the Tower Block will then move to Simpson Ward.

Hutchings Day Unit will move from level eight to the Horizon Centre on the Torbay Hospital site.

The Trust will also reorganise inpatient accommodation on levels five to eight to reduce overnight occupancy in parts of the Tower Block.

Patients directly affected will be contacted by their care teams, and arrangements will be reviewed as work progresses.

Dr Mark Roberts, Deputy Medical Director, said: “We’ve thought very carefully about how we continue to care for people while reducing the number of patients staying overnight in parts of the Tower Block.

“Making sure each of those parts works well together helps us keep hospital beds available for patients who need inpatient care.”

Construction on the site is expected to begin on the first ward floor in spring 2027, with that floor due to be completed in summer and a second expected to reopen in early autumn.

The programme is currently forecast to finish by February 2028.

Trust Chief Executive Joe Teape said the additional investment provided the funding needed to carry out the work and a practical way forward that kept services within the area.

Ms Voaden also welcomed the funding, saying she is “relieved” remedial work can now begin, but said the hospital’s wider estate also needed investment.

“Torbay’s estate is one of the oldest in the country and significant parts of the hospital are unfit for purpose,” she said. “If we want a 21st-century standard of healthcare, we must invest in the infrastructure to deliver it. Failing to do so is a false economy.”

Ms Voaden also criticised the Government’s previous plans to delay much-needed repairs until 2032, saying she would continue pressing for investment elsewhere in the hospital.

Separate from the temporary arrangements, the short-stay assessment service previously provided from EAU4 is now being delivered through an expanded Same Day Emergency Care service.

The former EAU4 space is now a discharge lounge, closed overnight.