NHS Devon gives heart plans a bypass

Torbay-to-Exeter cardiac plan abandoned

Health chiefs in South Devon have scrapped plans to try a new way of dealing with heart attack patients which opponents warned could cost lives.

In an email to local MPs NHS Devon announced it isn’t planning to go ahead with the proposal to divert life-saving heart procedures overnight from Torbay to Exeter.

Thousands of people signed a petition against the plan, which would have been trialled for three months in a ‘test and learn’ pilot. MPs campaigned against it and raised it in the House of Commons, saying the extra time taken to get patients to hospital was unacceptable.

NHS estimates said it would take an average of 28 minutes longer.

Devon’s integrated care board, which plans and funds NHS services in the county, had been due to approve the trial last month, but under pressure from campaigners it reconsidered.

Now the MPs who led the opposition are hailing a victory for local people, but warning that the campaign goes on.

“This win belongs to the people of Torbay,” said Torbay’s Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling.

“It’s not a definitive victory but it feels like a step in the right direction. Now it all depends on where this journey ends.

“This is very good news. By campaigning we have achieved the outcomes that many people wanted, and we can have higher levels of confidence that we know where we are heading.

“I am incredibly proud of our community. Together we’ve shown that we won’t stand by when vital services are at risk.”

NHS Devon says it will now develop a broader cardiology strategy for the region, to be presented next month, shaped by public input and clinical data.

Caroline Voaden, Lib Dem MP for South Devon, said she is thrilled that NHS Devon had listened to the objections to its ‘ill-thought-out plan’ while Martin Wrigley, Lib Dem MP for Newton Abbot, said it is a ‘huge win’ for the patients of South Devon.

The three MPs are due to meet with the integrated care board on Wednesday.