New clinics and services launching at Crediton Hospital

New clinics and services promised by the NHS have recently been introduced at Crediton Hospital, as part of the development of a Health and Social Care Hub.

The GP involved in leading the project, Dr Alex Degan, has thanked local people for their ideas and support, stating their input has been 'invaluable'. He added that as more space becomes available at the hospital, additional services will be considered.

Over 20 different clinics are already running from the Hub, including community nursing, bladder and bowel services, clinical psychologist, physiotherapy, midwives, chiropody, audiology, cardiac rehab and the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) exercise group.

New clinics and services recently introduced at Crediton Hospital Health and Social Care Hub include geriatrician clinics, a stop smoking group and new children's services such as baby clinics, health visitor and school nurses.

The Depression and Anxiety Service (DAS) has also been greatly expanded.

Work to identify further outpatient services is ongoing, however with these new and expanded services the outpatient department is now at full capacity. The group is therefore reviewing the use of space in the hospital to see if additional capacity could be created for new services.

Members of the local planning group for the development of Crediton Hospital heard from local NHS staff this month about the range of new services and clinics launching at the Crediton Hospital Health and Social Care Hub.

The community and NHS have been meeting regularly since early 2014 to discuss how the hospital could be of most benefit to Crediton and the surrounding areas in the future.

The planning group is made up of local members of the community including representatives from the Hospital League of Friends and Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) from local GP practices, the Town Council and the voluntary sector.

It also includes clinical leads and managers from NHS Northern, Eastern and Western (NEW) Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) (the organisation in charge of buying services at the Hospital) and Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust (the provider of services at the Hospital).

Dr Alex Degan, a local GP and Chair of the Crediton Hospital Steering Group, said:

"We are extremely grateful for the input of local people into the planning and design for the Crediton Hospital Health and Social Care Hub. Their involvement has been invaluable.

The introduction of new and expanded services at the Hub is really pleasing to see and will bring a range of benefits to local people. We are looking forward to seeing these develop."

Over the last month, the planning group has been looking at the potential for voluntary sector services to be based at the Hub. They are also looking to see how links could be strengthened between voluntary organisations providing services in the community and in the Hub.

There are already many voluntary services in the local area. With this in mind, the group is focusing on how to improve links between the Hub and these services, through a signposting service.

Healthwatch Devon recently spoke to over 200 people in Crediton and the surrounding areas about health and social care services they would like to see in the town. The information collated will be used in the future planning for the Health and Social Care Hub at Crediton Hospital.

Healthy people, living healthy lives, in healthy communities

www.newdevonccg.nhs.uk

Contact the communications team on 01392 267 647 / 01769 575 153  or email us at d-ccg.communications@nhs.net