A WIDE-RANGING consultation, organised by NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (NEW Devon CCG), has been launched which covers proposals to improve the way elderly and frail people are cared for in the Eastern locality.

“Your Future Care” proposes changes which will, if adopted, provide care and support in people’s homes and in the community, preventing unnecessary hospital admissions and supporting a faster return home.

The consultation is about deciding the location of community hospital inpatient beds in the Eastern locality, which included Mid Devon, while giving people reassurance as to the improved care they can expect instead, in their own homes.

The consultation document is available on the CCG’s website: www.newdevonccg.nhs.uk . It is also be available in public libraries, GP surgeries, hospitals and leisure centres as well as other key public buildings.

Doctors say that a length of stay in hospital of more than 10 days can cause people’s health to deteriorate, particularly in relation to muscle strength. Loss of mobility leads to increased falls, loss of confidence and independence - and advancing frailty.

The proposal model responds to the views of patients and clinical staff about what they wish to see provided in future and more than 80 clinicians have worked on it.

It builds on previous discussion during 2014/15 over the Transforming Community Services programme in which people said they wanted joined up care, which supported and promoted independence, as locally as possible.

The NHS in NEW Devon has to achieve clinical and financial stability by 2021. These proposals are key to ensuring the improvement of care and financial health.