THE Stroke Unit at Crediton Hospital could be closed after proposals to move all rehabilitation services to a single site were revealed.
Patients and their families will be asked for their views on the proposals at public forums later this month.
Dr Joe Mays, of the Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Although the outcomes for patients and carers using the existing community stroke rehabilitation units are good, and the experience is normally very positive, travelling to the units can be difficult for families, especially if they are using public transport.
“Added to this, we have learned that dispersing the nursing and clinical teams over two small units does not make the best use of highly specialist skills and resources to bring maximum benefit for patients.
“In view of this, your local clinicians have been looking at the possibility of consolidating the rehabilitation units onto one site. For this reason we are keen to have your views through the ‘have your say’ survey.”
The current services cover people in Mid Devon, Exeter and East Devon and are currently provided by the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust and Northern Devon NHS Healthcare Trust.
Focus groups have been org-anised in Crediton on Tuesday, January 21, 11am-12.30pm, and Tiverton on Monday, January 27, 11am-12.30pm, to discuss the plans for stroke services.
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