From: NHS Devon Integrated Care Board, Freedom of Information Office
To: Susie Colley, Chair
Date: 8 April 2026
Re: FOINHSD26/1566 and FOINHSD25/1493

Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

NHS Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB) is confirming in accordance with Section (1)(a) of the Act, whether it holds the information requested and (b) is supplying it unless otherwise specified.

Please see below the most up to date information held in response to your Freedom of Information requests, FOINHSD26/1566 and FOINHSD25/1493.

At our Joint Committee on 26 March 2026, we decided to bring the case for change for cardiology and cardiovascular services into our wider health and care planning as part of our five-year commissioning plan and the neighbourhood health model.

We will not progress the case for change programme at this time.

Over the past year we have seen real improvements in access, performance and prevention. With the NHS Long Term Plan, the Devon health and care strategy and our commissioning five-year plan now in place, our focus is on delivering these system-wide priorities.

This allows us to look at the whole picture, how we prevent heart and wider health problems, diagnose them earlier, and support people closer to home.

Taking this joined-up approach will help ensure services continue to meet the needs of our communities in the future.

We know people care deeply about their local heart services. There are no plans to change where cardiology services are delivered right now.

We are committed to keeping local people, staff and stakeholders informed and involved as our plans develop.

Yours sincerely,
Libby Ryan-Davies
Chief Strategic Planning and Commissioning Officer
NHS Devon

This statement, included by the ICB in the response as context, was made six days before the Joint Committee decision of 26 March 2026.

"Next week, our board will be asked to consider a recommendation to bring the case for change for cardiology and cardiovascular services into our wider health and care planning, including our five-year commissioning plan and the neighbourhood health model we are beginning to implement.

"This would allow us to look at the whole picture, how we prevent heart and wider health problems, diagnose them earlier, and support people closer to home, alongside the care provided in hospital.

"Taking this joined-up approach will help ensure services are sustainable for the future and continue to meet the needs of our communities.

"We know people care deeply about their local heart services, so we want to be clear about what's being proposed. No decisions have been made at this stage, and there are no plans to change where cardiology services are delivered right now.

"We are committed to keeping local people, staff and stakeholders informed and involved as our plans develop."

Also included by the ICB in the response. Signed by Libby Ryan-Davies as Chief Strategic Planning and Commissioning Officer.

The letter confirmed the ICB was finalising plans to develop future pathways for cardiovascular disease, cardiology and cardiac surgery services across Devon, with a draft case for change planned for wider patient and public engagement between January and March 2026. That engagement did not proceed on the originally stated timetable.

The letter stated explicitly: "The draft case for change does not contain any proposals for 'change' or 'closure', and a case for change doesn't automatically lead to service changes for NHS services." The campaign noted at the time that this framing was not consistent with the content of the proposals that had already been shared with clinicians and MPs.

The letter committed to sharing the updated case for change with local authority Overview and Scrutiny Committees, the Heart Campaign and wider stakeholders before a clinical validation exercise led by the NHS Devon Chief Medical Officer. Neither the wider sharing nor the clinical validation exercise had taken place before the programme was absorbed into the five-year plan.