Ahead of the Devon NHS ICB meeting on Thursday 31st July 2025, Kevin Foster has given an update on the Have a Heart For Our Bay Campaign and the latest news around Torbay's Heart services.
I wanted to thank everyone for their support of the “Have a Heart for Our Bay” Campaign and the letter you co-signed has been delivered to NHS Devon.
After the last-minute withdrawal of their previous plan to send heart attack patients from Torbay to Exeter, on Thursday (31st July) the NHS Devon Integrated Care Board will consider the next steps in what it calls: “Developing a case for change for cardiovascular disease, cardiology and cardiac surgery services.”
A keen eye was needed to find this information as the relevant report starts on page 194 of a 437 page document. You can read the report yourself by clicking here then selecting the Board Agenda Papers for 31st July.
The document itself does not set out what the future change should be, it asks the board to endorse the process to develop the case for change, but it does give some pointers to what might come in future.
Few would argue with objectives like reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases or reducing waiting times, but my attention was drawn to the list of what are described as "initial findings" on Page 6 of the report, which includes these 2 comments:
- There are productivity opportunities in acute hospital services which need to be grasped to ensure we are sustainable and responsive to the needs of patients now and in the future.
- Devon spends a higher amount than other ICB’s on secondary care cardiology services.
Cutting through the management speak, these could be summed up as:
- The ICB thinks it could do more with what resources it has got.
- The ICB thinks it is spending too much on hospital heart services in Devon.
If these are two of the core “findings” it points towards a move to reduce hospital services and potentially consolidate them for greater efficiency, hence the worries about the future of Torbay Hospital’s Heart services. Derriford is a regional centre for major heart surgery (So wont be cut) and it is hard to imagine Exeter would be cut in favour of Torbay. Whilst the ICB states it’s “case for change” won’t specify what the change should be (Page 198), inherently the aim would be to use its acceptance to then justify why a future change proposed must be taken forward.
There are some indications the ICB is working with local MPs, with one having welcomed NHS Devon’s plan to draw up this strategy in an email to a (rather surprised) resident who forwarded it to me. Yet update readers should be more cautious, it is rare an organisation feels the need to spend time working on a “case for change” if it expects its eventual proposals to be universally popular!
If there is a proposal to move our heart services to Exeter there will need to be a big campaign against it, so I will keep you up to date on any further developments and how you can play your part.
After the devastating news earlier this year of the Government’s decision to delay the start of vital rebuilding work at Torbay Hospital for a decade, despite all the claims and pledges before the election that a change of government would not affect the plan. We cannot allow this decision to be followed by moves to remove vital services and downgrade our hospital.
