Torbay Hospital upgrade approved

A positive impact on locals

Torbay Hospital is to get an upgrade to its acute medical unit (AMU)  – the place where patients referred from the emergency department, GPs or outpatients’ clinics are treated for urgent conditions – to help reduce overcrowding in emergency.

According to a Torbay Council officer’s report, the new facility will double ‘assessment spaces’ from 26 to 52 and provide a “modern fit-for-purpose” unit.

Currently most emergency admissions go through the hospital’s emergency department. But the upgrade will allow more patients to be treated elsewhere, improving flow and reduce overall admissions.

The application was whisked through by members of the council’s planning committee, with members falling over each other to propose approval.

Speaking ahead of the vote, councillor Jaqueline Thomas (Conservatives, Kings Ash) said: “For me, this decision is an easy one to make. How many of us have been touched by and benefitted from the medical miracles that Torbay Hospital and its staff perform?

“This is going to have a positive impact on our residents here in Torbay by reducing waiting times for patients to be seen.”

She asked fellow councillors “to not just clap for the NHS but raise our hands in full support of this application and make it happen.”

They duly did so, voting unanimously for approval.

In a statement read at the planning meeting, the Torquay Neighbourhood Forum supported the application: “as it is improving the provision for acute healthcare needs without any unacceptable conflict without planning policies.”

The AMU will be built in front of the existing outpatients’ entrance on space currently used for ambulances to turn and for disabled parking. Existing disabled spaces will be built over and new ones added to the car park north of the hospital. 

The development will be part of a group of buildings away from the grade II-listed chapel and the original brick hospital buildings dating from around the 1920s. It will include two new bays for ambulances. 

The proposals submitted by Torbay And South Devon NHS Foundation Trust can now go ahead, subject to a number of planning conditions, including proof that it will be safe for ambulances to enter and exit the relocated bays.