Dear Editor,
Seaton Hospital is an issue in the local elections on May 1. The hospital steering committee submitted a proposal for using the threatened wing to NHS Property Services nine months ago. They have still not given us an answer.
We have been fighting to save the hospital since 2016, when they first threatened to remove the beds, and 2017, when they switched Seaton’s beds to Sidmouth after Tory pressure, leaving it half empty and vulnerable to closure.
In 2021, I warned that the hospital was still vulnerable, but Marcus Hartnell accused me of “scaremongering”. However, in 2023 they proposed to demolish a wing paid for 100 per cent by local donations. I started a new campaign which gained massive local support.
This time, all the candidates in the election will claim to be concerned about the hospital. But the Conservatives (who won Seaton & Colyton last time) are the party responsible for the threat to the hospital, and their candidate doesn’t even live in the local area. Nor do the Labour or the Reform UK candidates.
Personally, I am supporting Paul Arnott, who campaigned with us for the Hospital in 2016, 2017, 2021 and 2023. In 2024, as leader of East Devon District Council, he got Seaton Hospital made an asset of community value, which makes it more difficult for them to close part of the hospital.
If Paul is elected and the Lib Dems win control of the County Council, as is highly possible, he could get on the Health Scrutiny Committee where he can help get them to support the Hospital. If the Tories squeak back because of split opposition votes, it will be a lost opportunity to have a champion of the hospital in a position to speak up for it.
Martin Shaw,
Seaton
Editor’s comment: The privatisation of the NHS is a Reform UK policy.Low turnout in May’s elections could hand victory to Reform UK. Please vote and encourage your friends and neighbours to help stop Reform UK and their Trumpian agenda. You may well need to lend your vote to a party you do not normally support, but tactical voting is often the only way to beat our anachronistic first past the post system.
