Save Teignmouth Hospital MIU

Teignmouth residents concerned and angry packed the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) meeting on the future of Teignmouth Hospital in the Alice Cross Centre, with many people turned away because the venue was full. At the second Teignmouth Consultation the Methodist Church Hall was packed and dozens of people were again turned away because there was no more room. People are rightly angry because the CCG consultation offers ‘Hobson’s Choice’ two options both of which mean the closure of Teignmouth MIU and the down grading of our hospital. This isn’t government diktat, the CCG has choices. The CCG’s proposals are predicated on the assumption that all Teignmouth, Shaldon and Bishopsteignton residents will go to Dawlish rather than Newton Abbot or even the overstretched Accident and Emergency department at Torbay Hospital. Greater pressure on the A&E will cost the NHS as a whole more. Residents have shared with me moving accounts of how their nearest and dearest have had the care and treatment they need close to family and friends at Teignmouth Hospital. Teignmouth Hospital is the first hospital build under Beveridge’s NHS. People derided Beveridge’s plans for a National Health Service, but in the end united behind what has become one Britain’s most cherished institutions. Teignmouth must be united in defense of our hospital services, a community that through its League of Friends can raise a million pounds in a decade should be given the opportunity to come up with a solution for Teignmouth Hospital. I would call on the CCG to work with the community to secure a sustainable future for Teignmouth, not simply confront us with a fait accompli - closure of the MIU and loss of acute beds. Please sign the petition: http://signme.org.uk/1034