ESSENTIAL fire safety work at Torbay Hospital is due to start in the spring after £8million extra funding was secured by Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust.

The work will be carried out at the hospital’s Tower Block after the trust was issued an enforcement notice by the fire service in relation to floors four to eight.

In the meantime, temporary service changes have been confirmed which will reduce occupancy in the building.

Devon and Somerset Fire Service said changes were needed to provide ‘sufficient escape routes for people in the event of a fire’.

A deadline of November 6 has now been extended to December 18 to allow the trust to complete the necessary actions.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has also inspected the building and proposed to take regulatory action.

The additional £8million funding comes on top of £1.8 million announced in September and will support substantial work to improve fire compartmentation in the Tower Block.

The trust says the safety of patients, staff and visitors remains its ‘absolute priority’.

It says the fire safety risks associated with the Tower Block are not new and have been ‘recognised and actively managed’ over many years through staff training, evacuation planning, fire safety improvements and ongoing investment, undertaken in partnership with Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service and other agencies.

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service has confirmed that recent changes made by the trust have reduced the risk but further action is needed to fully meet the requirements of its Enforcement Notice.

The temporary service changes will reduce the number of people being cared for in the Tower Block at any one time, while maintaining as much inpatient capacity as safely possible.

The measures have been welcomed by Newton Abbot MP Martin Wrigley.

He said: ‘I am relieved that Torbay Hospital has been able to secure the funding needed for this essential fire safety work in the Tower Block.

‘I am confident that the required work will be carried out as quickly as possible with the minimum of disruption.

‘My colleagues and I will continue to push Government for a long-term upgrade to the hospital that is so desperately needed.’

No services are being closed and most of the changes involve services moving within Torbay Hospital, with one service moving temporarily to Totnes Community Hospital.

Work to put the temporary arrangements in place will take place during November and early December 2026.

The service currently provided from Simpson Ward in the Hetherington Unit at Torbay Hospital will move temporarily to Harbourne Ward at Totnes Community Hospital, bringing currently unused ward space back into use.

This will allow respiratory inpatient services currently provided from Midgley Ward in the Tower Block to move temporarily to Simpson Ward.

Services currently provided from Hutchings Day Unit on level 8 will move temporarily to the Horizon Centre on the Torbay Hospital site.

For inpatient services remaining in the Tower Block, the trust will change how ward space is used to reduce occupancy.

These changes will affect the services provided from Allerton and Cromie Wards, with Allerton Ward caring for people across levels 7 and 8 and Cromie Ward caring for people across levels 5 and 6.

Together, these temporary changes will reduce occupancy in the Tower Block while maintaining as much inpatient capacity as safely possible.

The arrangements will remain under review as the fire safety work progresses.

Anyone directly affected by the temporary changes will receive information directly from the teams caring for them. People should continue to attend appointments in their usual location unless they hear directly from the trust that the location is changing.

Alongside the temporary service changes, the trust is developing the programme of fire compartmentalisation work in the Tower Block.

The detailed construction programme is still being finalised and remains subject to the final fire strategy and the necessary building safety approvals.

Work is expected to begin on the first ward floor in spring 2027 and then progress through the Tower one floor at a time.

The first ward floor is expected to be completed in summer 2027, with the second expected to be completed in early autumn.

This is expected to allow two full wards to return to operation while work continues on the remaining floors.

The overall programme is currently expected to be completed by February 2028.

Joe Teape, Chief Executive, said: ‘There are no easy answers when managing some of the oldest NHS estate in the country or making changes of this kind.

‘We now have the further investment we need to carry out the compartmentation work in the Tower and a practical way forward that keeps services within Torbay and South Devon.

‘I am sincerely grateful to our teams and colleagues for continuing to work through the detail, challenge our thinking and make sure we have properly considered what this means for the people and communities we serve.

‘I also want to recognise the strong support we are receiving from our NHS and local authority partners and I am grateful for the constructive way Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service and the Care Quality Commission have engaged with us as we have worked through what needs to happen.’

Nicola McMinn, Chief Nurse, said: ‘Behind every part of this plan are individual patients and the care they need.

‘Our teams have looked carefully at which patients can be safely cared for in each setting, the facilities available and the clinical, nursing and therapy support they will need. We have also thought carefully about the colleagues who will be working differently as a result.

'There is a lot of detail to get right and we will keep working closely with our teams as we put the temporary arrangements in place.’