SUPPORTERS of Teignmouth Hospital are planning another demonstration ahead of hearing from a county council task group which has been investigating whether there is a case for keeping the hospital open.

Devon County Council’s health and adult care scrutiny committee is due to hear back from the group set up to recommend whether there is a case to refer the decision to close the hospital back to the Secretary of State at its next meeting on September 21.

Campaigners are continuing their pitch battle to save the historic hospital, the first NHS hospital to be built in the country in the 1950s.

Back in June, the task group set a series of questions for NHS bosses to answer.

It is understood while some of these have been answered, the task group has then sent further supplementary queries.

Group members have toured the existing hospital site, the town centre Brunswick Street site of the new NHS health and well-being hub as part of their investigations.

Ahead of the meeting, the campaign group is urging as many people as possible to lobby councillors to make it a ‘mammoth’ turnout.

However, it is unlikely any decision will be made by the committee.

Cllr Martin Wrigley, who sits on the group, explained work was still going on but it was still at the ‘evidence building stage’.

He added: ‘We have been meeting and toured all the sites which was really helpful getting extra evidence.’

The county council committee met in June at the same time as Teignbridge Council’s planning committee met to decide on a planning application for the new Brunswick Street health hub.

While Teignbridge Council planners gave the go-ahead for the multi-million pound three storey centre on a derelict site, members of the county health and adult scrutiny committee had to defer any decision for further information.

Lawyers for Devon County Council have described the referral process as ‘lengthy and complicated’.

The Secretary of State has never previously upheld such a referral against the proposed closure of a hospital.

It has been proposed that the case for asking the Secretary of State to reconsider the closure would be on the basis of the long term health needs of the community.

The Friends of Teignmouth Hospital, which has raised millions of pounds to support the hospital, put together a comprehensive and lengthy report putting its case for keeping it open.

They said they firmly believe it would be a ‘waste of resource’ and a move ‘ that will be regretted’.

Not agreeing with the NHS argument that the integrated care model renders community hospitals redundant, the league’s report said it would be ‘logical’ to put rehabilitation beds back into Teignmouth Hospital.

At the June meeting, Teignmouth councillor David Cox, a staunch supporter of the hospital, said: ‘We don’t want our hospital to be a museum exhibit, it’s not because of nostalgia or tradition; Teignmouth Hospital has a real part to play in providing health services for our area.’

The Devon County Council meeting takes place on September 21 at County Hall in Exeter.