Caroline Voaden: Crucial U-turn saves coronary care services for now

I was delighted last week when NHS Devon decided not to push ahead with their plans to move coronary care services from Torbay Hospital to Exeter.

This move had been under consideration for a while. I was first alerted to it at the start of the year, but as I investigated these plans, it turned out their origins extended much further back.

During a meeting with Torbay Hospital’s cardiology team in March, I was informed that they’d been telling NHS Devon for a year not to go through with this move.

They also said that no evidence had been presented to them to justify the move; unfortunately, they weren’t the only ones feeling this way.

In the entire time this move was under consideration, I didn’t hear a single convincing argument for it. Instead, all I heard, loud and clear, from cardiologists, my fellow MPs, and you was: Don’t do it.

And the reasons why are clear. In a cardiac episode, time is everything. Just 10 to 15 minutes can literally save a life.

That’s not hyperbole. For every 30-minute delay to treatment, there is a 7.5% increase in mortality. In other words, that’s 15 people out of every 200 who could lose their lives because of an extra half-hour delay.

Anyone who has made the journey from South Devon to Exeter will know that getting stuck in a delay of at least 30 minutes is a common occurrence. Even with blue lights flashing, it’d be hard to find a way through standstill traffic.

NHS Devon themselves somewhat accepted this premise. They said that because of this proposed move, patients in South Devon would experience an average increase in travel time from 15 to 43 minutes.

I would query those figures slightly, particularly from further afield places like Brixham and Dartmouth. But even if we accepted them at face value, knowing 10 to 15 minutes could save a life in a cardiac event, why was NHS Devon seriously considering a move that could add nearly a 45-minute delay for patients?

Considering such a move might have been somewhat understandable if the wait times for ambulances were relatively short. But, according to January 2024 figures, South West Ambulance Service consistently ranked near the bottom of every category of ambulance response times, including for heart attacks in Category 2.

Now, the geography of rural Devon is not conducive to speedy ambulance response times. I would challenge anyone to drive along our hedge-lined roads at speed, even with a blue light flashing. But these figures are particularly concerning in the context of the proposed move of cardiac care from Torbay to Exeter.

I relayed this to NHS Devon. Throughout the period this move was under consideration, I repeatedly raised concerns about it, including in a meeting with senior NHS executives.

I also raised the matter repeatedly in parliament and presented a petition in the chamber, which urged the government to intervene if NHS Devon gave it the green light.

Fortunately, they didn’t. Last week, NHS Devon decided to withdraw the proposal. They said they would now take some time for reflection and for further engagement with clinicians and partners to design the most effective solution for the whole population of Devon.

An updated proposal is expected in July. I hope that when it appears, it in no way features a plan to move cardiac care from Torbay Hospital.

Scarily, though, it might. Despite last week’s news, this campaign is not over yet. And if you want to add your voice to the many objecting to this move, make sure to sign my petition below.

https://www.carolinevoaden.com/surveys-coronary-care

And please contact my office if you would like to share your experiences or thoughts on the proposed move: caroline.voaden.mp@parliament.uk

Thank you to everyone who has done so already. Your opinions were invaluable in getting NHS Devon to see sense and put off this ill-thought-out plan.