“The wait to reopen Budleigh Salterton Hospital as a multi-purpose health facility is set to continue for the unforeseeable future.
A dispute over ownership of the site means it is already five months behind schedule for when it was due to open its doors to the community again.
Nearly a year ago, NHS Northern, Eastern and Western (NEW) Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) approved an £800,000 transformation of the facility owned by the Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust.
The hospital closed last summer and was due to reopen in September. NEW Devon CCG is in discussions to hand over responsibility for East Devon’s community hospitals to the Royal Devon & Exeter hospital.
It would mean the ownership of Budleigh Hospital would be automatically transferred to NHS Property Services, which would need to generate a commercial rent from the hospital building.
As a result, the scheme for a wellbeing hub in Budleigh will have to be put on hold until issues surrounding the ownership of the site can be resolved. …”
East Devon Watch 