Caroline Voaden: Delay to hospital repairs could threaten patients’ safety

The journey from South Devon to Exeter can be long. As you approach Haldon Hill, it’s not uncommon to see clusters of brake lights on the horizon, as lorries and cars slow to a snail-like pace to navigate the hill’s twists and turns.

In fact, as I’m writing this article now, the current journey time from my office to Exeter stands at forty-six minutes. That’s actually quite good—it’s not unusual for it to take over an hour…

If you were only going shopping or heading to a meeting, then such a delay would be an inconvenience. If you were driving someone who was suffering from a heart attack, though, getting stuck in such traffic could be the difference between life and death.

That’s because, when it comes to heart attacks, there’s such a thing as a ‘golden hour’.

It’s the first hour after the onset of symptoms and is a critical window of opportunity that impacts a patient’s safety and quality of life. This is because the heart muscle starts to die within 80-90 minutes after it stops getting blood, meaning that every passing minute without treatment increases the chances of irreversible damage.

Medical advice is to go to hospital as fast as possible after having a heart attack, so it stands to reason that no one should do so facing a journey time of at least 45 minutes. But that could be the reality facing some patients in South Devon.

Last month, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (TSD) announced a proposal to move an out-of-hours cardiac service out of Torbay. 

Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI), an emergency treatment for heart attacks, is currently provided at hospitals in Torbay and Exeter, but the proposal could see the service moved to just the latter.

Now, this is just a proposal, but I am deeply concerned about the possible consequences. The full terms and conditions are yet to be finalised, and TSD has assured me that the project would not proceed without a rigorous review and trial taking place. But it is the latest in a spate of poor outcomes and difficult decisions TSD has, through no fault of their own, been forced to take.

In January, the health secretary confirmed that the desperately needed repairs to Torbay Hospital won’t begin until 2032 at the earliest. This is despite 80% of the hospital’s estate currently being unfit for purpose and reports of crumbling concrete in the main ward block building and a lack of adequate temperature control in some operating theatres.

I saw the unsustainability of the current status quo during a recent visit to the hospital. Staff showed me the awful conditions they are working in, including the pathology department, which has been housed in a portacabin for over 40 years.

The pathology department is where they conduct blood tests, screen for cancer, and diagnose other diseases using laboratory tests. In other words, it’s the beating heart of the hospital.

No one would ever imagine that the beating heart of the hospital would be housed in a portacabin that is literally falling to pieces. Yet, these are the working conditions staff are dealing with every day – and will have to continue dealing with for another 7 years at least.

Along with my Liberal Democrat colleagues, I’ve been pushing the government hard to reconsider this decision and bring forward repairs. This delay, combined with the proposal to move out-of-hours PPCI services to Exeter, is setting off alarm bells for me when it comes to the quality of patient outcomes. As well as pushing the government, I’ll be seeking reassurances from TSD about the benefits of this proposal and the results of its trial.

If you wish to contact me about this or another issue you are facing, please do so at: caroline.voaden.mp@parliament.uk  

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