Get Involved
Torbay Hospital's cardiac unit needs more than quiet support – it needs visible, vocal, practical help from the people it serves. Whether you can give time, skills, money, or just your voice, there is something meaningful you can do.
Use this page to join the campaign, share information, and help protect life-saving cardiac care in Torbay.
Stay Connected
The fastest way to stay up to date with events, news, and urgent calls to action is through our Facebook group.
Follow, share, and invite others to join – it makes a genuine difference to how far our message travels.
Visit our Facebook GroupJoin Us
Your support helps us print leaflets, posters, banners, meeting materials, and keep the campaign visible across Torbay, Teignbridge and the South Hams. We are building a visible, local movement to protect cardiac services. Here are practical ways you can help right now:
- Leaflet your street or neighbourhood – help us reach people who are not online.
- Put up posters – in your window, workplace, community centres, shops and cafes (with permission).
- Display a banner – at home, at local events, or in high-visibility locations.
- Host or attend local meetings – invite friends, neighbours and colleagues to hear what's at stake.
- Share your story – patient, family member, or staff: your experience helps others understand why this matters.
If you'd like to help with leafleting, posters or banners, please contact the campaign team so we can coordinate materials and areas:
I Want to HelpDonate
If you are able to donate, you can do so directly by bank transfer using the details below.
Donate via Bank Transfer
Bank: NatWest
Account Name: The Heart Campaign
Sort Code: 54 10 39
Account Number: 16174712
Host a Coffee Morning
Invite friends, family or colleagues to a simple coffee morning and turn conversation into real support for local cardiac services. Whether at home, work or in your community space, every cup shared helps raise vital funds for the Torbay Heart Campaign and keeps life-saving care closer to the people who need it most.
Our Journey So Far
This timeline traces the real sequence of events that led to the threat over Torbay Hospital's cardiac unit – from the initial proposals in early 2025, through the public outcry that forced a temporary withdrawal, to the ongoing fight to establish the facts and hold decision-makers to account.
It brings together documented milestones from NHS Devon, statements from clinicians, public meetings, community reports and campaign activity. As new information emerges, this timeline will continue to grow.
- 2025 A year of proposals, public pressure, and a sustained fight to protect Torbay's cardiac unit.
- February 2025 NHS Devon announces an eight-week "test and learn" trial to move out-of-hours primary angioplasty (pPCI) for heart attacks from Torbay Hospital to the Royal Devon & Exeter (RDE). Torbay cardiologists and MPs raise urgent concerns about patient safety and the impact of longer journey times.
- May 2025 After strong opposition from consultants, patients, campaigners and elected representatives, NHS Devon withdraws the trial proposal. The decision is presented as a "pause", and local clinicians warn that the underlying threat to Torbay's cardiac unit remains.
- July 2025 A report is published ahead of the 31 July NHS Devon ICB meeting, setting out work on a county-wide "case for change" covering prevention, emergency care and planned cardiology services across Devon. The ICB discusses this at its meeting. No specific relocation proposal is put forward, but campaigners note that emergency cardiac care at Torbay is now being considered within a wider reconfiguration.
- August 2025 Public Governor John Kiddey, who had previously spoken out against moving emergency cardiac services from Torbay to Exeter, resigns from the Council of Governors. The Trust records this as his personal decision, adding to local concern about how dissenting views are being handled.
- September – October 2025 NHS Devon begins wider engagement on the future of cardiovascular services across the county. The Heart Campaign steps up Freedom of Information requests to establish the financial and clinical evidence base behind the proposed changes. FOI responses from RDE confirm that its cardiac catheterisation labs are already fully utilised during weekdays and that 284 inpatients have been transferred to Torbay since October 2023 – directly contradicting claims that RDE can easily absorb Torbay's workload.
- November 2025 The ICB updates its timetable for the formal consultation on cardiovascular services. The Heart Campaign submits further FOI requests asking whether key decision-makers were aware of a Royal College of Physicians review identifying quality concerns at RDE – and whether that information was factored into the Case for Change. Business groups, including Brixham Chamber, call for maximum public participation in the process.
- December 2025 – January 2026 A Freedom of Information response from South Western Ambulance Service (SWASFT) confirms that prehospital thrombolysis – the clot-busting treatment used when a patient cannot reach a cardiac catheterisation lab within safe time limits – is no longer available to patients in the Torbay area. NICE guidelines require thrombolysis to be available where timely primary angioplasty cannot be guaranteed. The campaign formally challenges the ICB to explain how it has assured itself that the proposed changes would not breach these standards. A detailed follow-up FOI is submitted asking for the full timeline of awareness of the RCP review and how it relates to the Case for Change.
- February 2026 After sustained pressure from the campaign, Trust CEO Joe Teape confirms in writing that the cardiac catheterisation labs at Torbay Hospital are to be replaced at a cost of £5.7m – representing approximately 40% of the Trust's entire annual capital budget. A national funding bid was unsuccessful. The manufacturer will stop guaranteeing repair support from June 2026. Replacement is not expected to be complete until September 2027, creating a 15-month window of significant technical risk. The Trust acknowledges the risk level as HIGH.
- March 2026 The warnings prove well-founded. Over the weekend of 8–9 March, both cardiac catheterisation labs at Torbay Hospital fail simultaneously due to unplanned technical faults. A patient from Teignmouth requiring urgent cardiac intervention is reportedly refused a transfer to RDE and is instead sent to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. The campaign escalates immediately, writing to the Trust CEO and Medical Director and copying in local MPs. On 12 March, the Trust's Deputy CEO confirms both labs failed and acknowledges that existing procedures for managing cardiac diverts were inadequate. However, the Trust states that RDE "offered support" – directly contradicting the account of the Teignmouth patient's transfer to Plymouth. The campaign submits formal FOI requests to all organisations involved, asking for the documented divert log, transfer records, and cross-trust communications to establish what actually happened.
- 26 March – 8 April 2026 At its Joint Committee on 26 March 2026, NHS Devon decides not to progress the case for change programme as a standalone programme, absorbing it instead into its five-year commissioning plan and neighbourhood health model. The ICB confirms this formally in an FOI response dated 8 April 2026, stating it "will not progress the case for change programme at this time" and that there are "no plans to change where cardiology services are delivered right now." The campaign welcomes the pause but notes the language is carefully qualified throughout. "At this time" and "right now" are not permanent commitments. The case for change has not been abandoned – it has been absorbed into broader planning where it will be harder to scrutinise. Seven governance and financial questions raised in the campaign's formal challenge of 27 February 2026 – including how the ICB assured itself of RDE's capacity given its £40m+ deficit – remain unanswered. The campaign continues to hold the ICB to account.
- 13 April 2026 Community Meeting to Support the Heart Campaign – Monday 13 April at 17:30, The Grand Hotel, Torquay. The campaign shares plans for forthcoming demonstrations and actions. Everyone is welcome. Wear red to show your support, bring others with you, and help make our community voice impossible to ignore.
- Looking Ahead FOI responses on the cath lab incident, transfer handling, EPR procurement, and Adult Social Care finances are due by late April 2026. These responses may reveal significant new information about what happened during the March cath lab failure, how the Trust's capital priorities were set, and the financial pressures bearing on service decisions. The ICB's decision not to progress the case for change is a qualified pause, not a permanent withdrawal. The campaign continues to gather evidence, attend public meetings, and demand transparency. This timeline will be updated as new information emerges. The fight to keep emergency cardiac care in Torbay continues.
This campaign is only as strong as the people behind it.
Follow us on Facebook, volunteer your time, display materials, share your story, or support us financially if you can. Every action – large or small – helps keep Torbay's cardiac care close to home.