Residents have said they wish the action group created to fight for health care in the town to go forwards and represent the town.

At a public meeting in Dartmouth last night, residents from the town and surrounding villages vowed their support to the Dartmouth Healthcare Action Group and the mandate the group have suggested. The almost unanimous vote means the action group can go forwards to pressure NHS bosses to reinstate the healthcare back in Dartmouth that existed before the closure of the hospital, with the support of the community behind them.

The mandate from the action group revealed on the night was: “To seek re-instatement of our hospital, or a suitable alternative as a temporary Health and Wellbeing Centre, including all facilities prior to closure until time as a new facility is provided.”

The chair of the action group, Mike Mills said he accepted the mandate might not be “perfect” but in principal, he asked the room if they wanted the Dartmouth Healthcare Action Group to go forwards. Almost every hand in the room was raised in support.

Former mayor and member of the action group, Richard Rendle said: “We need if this is going to work, the best skills of everybody who has something to offer.” He said the majority of current members of the group had arrived by accident and he said more members would always be welcome.

He said, as a previous resident had explained, we can fight the NHS bosses. “Quite frankly, if Sarah Wollaston gets 8,000 signatures, she’ll get involved, believe you me. We have to do it.”

“If there’s anything you can do, we need your support” he added. “We need to turn these feelings into a positive action.”

The chair, Mike Mills agreed and said that all generations need to get involved in this.

Martin Mcgowan-Scanlon, a resident, said part of the problem is that the MP Sarah Wollaston is “not engaged” and “she needs to be engaged” which was met with applause.

He also encouraged people to follow Dr Wollaston on Twitter to question her about the situation in Dartmouth.

“We need to find a way of getting Sarah Wollaston to back this and lobby the government to do it” he added.

County and district councillor, Jonathan Hawkins seconded this and said “you really must lobby your MP”.

“She is the one who really can make a move on this I believe…she’s not listening. Liz Davenport [the interim chief executive of the Trust] certainly won’t listen unless her MP tells her to.”

A representative from the Save Our Hospital South Devon who congratulated everyone on the work already done said he hoped to keep in good contact with the group.

The representative also said he had heard from the Torbay district trade council which has it’s own health and social alliance campaign, which is in continual negotiation with the Trust. This source revealed that the the model of care which the Trust is looking at now for care in the community is to send out requests for people to “put old folks up in their homes”. “That is not an exaggeration I’m afraid.”

Prior to this decision to support the Dartmouth Healthcare Action Group, the chair explained the groups plan to set up a number of working groups to look at the different aspects of the subject in detail. These groups would look into the legality, the capital investment operating costs, the communication, data collection, campaign management and the funding required for this venture.

After the acceptance of the mandate, Mike said he hoped the group could look into requesting further information from the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust such as the latest building condition reports, statistics from the last five years and the time scale and cost of a new facility.

There is a further meeting of the Dartmouth Healthcare Action Group tomorrow at 9am in the Guildhall, Dartmouth. All are invited to attend.