'Last chance to save Teignmouth Hospital' say campaigners
After this month the council committee will not be allowed to refer the planned closure to the Government for a second opinion
A vote today could see the Government asked - for a second time - to stop Devon's NHS closing a community hospital.
Campaigners want to save and enhance the site in Teignmouth rather than replacing it with a smaller GP-led health centre.
Councillor David Cox is on the county council's health committee, which will this afternoon vote on referring their concerns to the health secretary.
He said: "The committee has agreed to refer the closure of Teignmouth Hospital to the secretary of the state - the law allows the NHS to have a reply. We're looking at their reply and I don't think the NHS, the trust have made any new insight.
"I think it's nearly five years we've been campaigning on this - we've had demonstrations and we haven't gone away and that's because the people of Teignmouth love their hospital and want to keep it.
"We've looked at the facts and we've come to the conclusion actually there is no reason to close Teignmouth Hospital - we could do what is needed at Teignmouth Hospital.
The November Teignmouth Community Hospital Task Group Final Report can be found here
In February Teignbridge councillors were applauded as they unanimously backed calls to reopen Teignmouth Hospital - rather than close it and replace it with a smaller GP-led health centre.
In November, campaigners trying to save Teignmouth and Seaton Hospitals called for the Government to intervene as they gave evidence to the county council's health scrutiny committee - with those speaking being 'applauded' by fellow campaigners, who also staged a demo before the meeting.
The agenda and background reports for today's meeting can be found here
The meeting will also look at plans to sell off an empty ward at Seaton Community Hospital, after concerns were previously raised by the committee. The NHS response ahead of the meeting can be found here