Pauline Constantine, of Shaldon, writes:

Surely the proposal to merge the doctors’ surgeries is, and should be, a completely separate issue from other health services currently operating most efficiently from the hospital site?

Combined surgeries would need a smaller building, preferably the Brunswick area with parking and public transport close by so that patients can access their doctors easily and regularly.

Clinics and physiotherapy are used intermittently and therefore the hospital site with its bus service stopping right outside is very suitable.

Respite beds, reinstated as promised, would allow time for the health and wellbeing service to ensure care services are fully in place before the patients return home – also easing the bed blocking in the general hospitals.

Social workers and occupational thereapists visit people in their own homes so a base in the hospital is no problem and the voluntary sector is most often accessed by phone or internet which again means their base does not need to be in the town itself.