Ian Roome

Very few hospitals in Britain can claim to be as essential as North Devon district hospital, which is the remotest acute hospital in mainland England. It serves a truly massive catchment area, spanning almost 1,200 square miles and more than 165,000 people as far afield as Lynton in north Devon and Bude in north Cornwall. Thousands of my constituents would face a more than two-hour drive to reach their next nearest trauma unit. During the tourist season, our hospital’s emergency demand increases by a full 20%. Yet shockingly, North Devon hospital has just six beds in its intensive care unit, and only four elective operating theatres—far fewer than the NHS expects for any hospital of that size—and both are now approaching 50 years old. Its endoscopy and women and children’s buildings are already end of life. It has a significant backlog of £80 million of overdue maintenance costs, half of which are categorised as critical or high risk. North Devon district hospital was included in the new hospital programme in 2019, but if it does not receive the funding now, critical and acute services will be at serious risk of service failure. There is no alternative provision for more than 40 miles. The last Conservative Government promised a major infrastructure upgrade and spades in the ground by February this year. Neither has materialised—what a surprise. Worse still, the last Government changed the terms of reference of the hospital’s submitted business case not once but twice, pushing essential work on crumbling infrastructure beyond 2030. My local hospital has a track record of delivering projects on time and within budget, such as the new discharge lounge, electronic patient records and the jubilee ward. The path ahead could not be clearer: the business case has been submitted, the land is owned and the rebuild has the backing of the Devon integrated care board. The phase 1 enabling works, covering key worker accommodation, a new road layout and an upgraded helipad, could have been completed as soon as April 2027. Phase 2’s clinical building, replacing operating theatres and the old intensive care unit and providing a replacement women and children’s centre, should have started before the next general election. Everything is ready to go. The can has been kicked down the road for long enough under the Conservatives. I really do sympathise with this new Government and the position they find themselves in. The only thing harder than having to deliver on their own promises is making someone else’s good.