Medical Matters: Here's to the next pioneering 75 years

July marked the 75th anniversary of the creation of the NHS. Dr Joanne Watson, Health and Care Strategy Director for Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, reflects on where we’ve been and looks forward to the future of health and social care in Torbay and South Devon.
NHS 75 is a great time to reflect on where the NHS has come from. We have a long proud history of delivering health and social care in Torbay and South Devon, with our history timeline stretching back to the opening of Torbay Hospital Provident and Eye Infirmary, founded in three rooms in Union Street, Torquay, in 1844.
Since then, our organisation and its predecessors have continued to develop and innovate to provide the best health care and support for local people as possible. Notably in 2015, we were established as an integrated care organisation, making Torbay and South Devon the first NHS organisation in England to join-up hospital and community care with social care.
We are incredibly proud to have been pioneers in this field and many others. However, in order for us to continue to support the people as effectively as possible, we need to focus on our future and this presents us with some really exciting opportunities.
All of our future plans are aligned to our vision of better health and care for all. We firmly believe that focusing on what matters to people is the best way to care for them, which is why we put them at the centre of all we do, integrate services around them and provide care as close to home as possible.
As you may be aware, we are part of the government’s New Hospital Programme for Torbay Hospital. This presents us with not only the opportunity to build a better hospital in Torquay, but to explore how we deliver services across our area in order to provide better outcomes for our population and better working environments for our staff. We are really pleased to hear the Government’s ongoing commitment to the programme with confirmation that building should be completed by the end of 2030.
Establishing sustainable services and environments is not just about new buildings and construction work. One of our priorities as an organisation in the next 12 – 18 months is to work on securing and implementing an electronic patient record (EPR). This will be a great improvement for our care as it enables better joined up care. Hand-written notes will become a thing of the past.
The EPR is important because it means we can make the most of 21st century technology. We have a number of different IT systems in place for different departments and specialties, which don’t always work as effectively together as we would like and some of which have become outdated. One EPR will completely transform the way in which we work; the people we care for will receive a more streamlined service and our colleagues will be able to work more efficiently and easier.
There is more going on too and right now there are a number of developments happening across our sites, which you will be aware of if you have visited recently. Site clearance and groundworks are well underway at Torbay Hospital for both an extension to our day surgery and ophthalmology theatres and a new endoscopy suite.
Both of these will increase capacity in the departments, reducing waiting times and allowing us to provide more efficient care. Work is almost completed on a new radiotherapy building near Hengrave House, which will house our radiology department’s replacement CT scanner.
It has also been great to celebrate the completion of a number of projects this year. Our Acute Medical Unit opened at Torbay Hospital, providing more assessment spaces, which means that people will receive timely, high quality care, in the right place.
The opening of Dartmouth Health and Wellbeing Centre in May 2023 was another particular highlight, which saw community services, GP practice and voluntary services brought together under one roof.
Hopefully this update of our planned developments and what we have recently achieved provides insight into our plans as an organisation. We have a responsibility to make the most of our opportunities and ensure that our NHS is ready for the next 75 years.
To find out more about Torbay and South Devon NHS’ developments and to view its interactive history timeline, visit www.torbayandsouthdevon.nhs.uk