In this, a probable General Election year, it may make good sense, if you are an existing or wannabe local MP, to become involved in an emotionally charged campaign to “Save Our Hospitals” but it really is a disgraceful electioneering stunt. In one sense one cannot blame anyone, who lives in this economically impoverished part of the country, wanting to improve their personal economic fortunes by wanting to become a paid MP. By our calculations, the basic salary of £86,500 is only 6 times the average income of a working Oketonian. A good increase if you can persuade enough electors to give you the leg up.

But to jump onto a campaign which is completely without any chance of success is disingenuous and indicative of the appalling state of self-interest and corruption that the state of British democracy now represents.

What we need is clarity, not electioneering. Someone sensible needs to explain to local electors the actual facts of the situation. The Dartmoor Ward at Okehampton Community Hospital has been closed for at least seven years. We assume that the Integrated Care Board that manages the expenditure of NHS money in Devon employs sensible and caring people who generally operate in the best interests of patients. They have taken a decision that spending £200k a year on an empty space is not justified. They insist that no one is disadvantaged by the lack of hospital beds in Okehampton.

The suggestion that some politician, especially one that represents a national political party that many believe is responsible for the poor state and situation of the NHS in the first place, is going to make a difference and save the beds, is completely crazy. If there is a contrary argument regarding this decision, it will have to be made at a much more detailed and serious level. Any group that wishes to effect that change will have to do a great deal of research, involve a lot of expert opinion and create a very cogent case. Such a group would be up against the intelligence and expertise of the ICB who have a vested interest in not being shown up as being incorrect in their decision making.

Our problem, is that when we attempted to put forward a scheme to setup such a group, that would undertake that research or come up with an alternative scenario, that idea was shouted down. It would appear that local politicians would rather encourage their mates to back some fruitless but media rich campaign than actually face up to the hard work of actually solving the problem.