Health inequalities caused by Devon divide

Ilfracombe MIU could close soon

Devon’s north/south divide was flagged up at a public meeting to discuss health equalities in North Devon as residents talked of services being “stripped back, left, right and centre.”

The meeting, attended by a panel of representatives from healthcare, Devon County Council, the voluntary sector and North Devon MP Ian Roome’s office, heard that if Ilfracombe’s minor injuries unit (MIU) was closed, as proposed, the north of the county would be left with one MIU compared with more than ten in the south. 

Residents and councillors raised issues of a lack of transport, housing and staff challenges and increasing mental health problems among the farming community from working in isolation, financial pressures and changes in government policy.

Digital exclusion was another barrier to good health outcomes and CEO of Age Concern North Devon Amanda Howard said only four per cent of the people the charity supported used IT.

“We often use our own phones so they can have a remote doctor’s appointment because they cannot do it themselves,” she said.

And she said scams on the phone and through the post were causing “anxiety” among older people.

Cllr Peter Jones (Ind, Witheridge) said there had been a decline in the bus network which was “absolutely appalling” in the community he represented and specialist transport services were “too expensive”.

The meeting was told that there was currently a bid in with the Big Lottery Fund to increase community transport in North Devon so volunteer drivers could do 500 door to door journeys from home to hospital a week.

Age Concern currently had to turn down 30 per cent of requests but could solve this if it had funding.

Half of the members of the public who had turned out to the special meeting called by North Devon Council’s policy development committee were from Ilfracombe, which has some of the worst deprivation in the county outside of Plymouth. 

One resident talked of services being stripped out “left, right and centre” mostly recently the Link centre which supported people with mental health problems and was scrapped together with two others in North Devon to cut costs for Devon County Council.

Dr Nigel Moody talked about his work at the Freedom Centre in Barnstaple for vulnerable people as an specialist inclusive health GP, a service now funded by the Integrated Care Board after a four year fight to get it.

He said his patient list had gone from one or two patients a day to 17-20 and a lot more work could be done with more money.

Director of public health for Devon Dr Steve Brown said the new ten year plan for the NHS was more about teams and organisations working more closely in collaboration which could benefit North Devon.

North Devon Council arranged the meeting to find out the issues and what the authority can do to help health inequalities. It will bring a report to a future policy development meeting with an action plan.