Challenge to the MP Update Wording and Notification of the Campaign Name Change
The two points raised:
- The wording. The campaign asks why the proposed changes continue to be described as "halted" when the ICB itself has described the programme as "paused", and notes that the concern has been raised before. It asks for the wording in the current update to be corrected.
- The campaign name and scope. The Heart Campaign has become Save Torbay Hospital, reflecting that its concerns are no longer confined to cardiology but extend to the wider future of Torbay Hospital as an acute hospital. The office and communications team are asked to use the current name in future references.
From: Susie Colley, Save Torbay Hospital Ltd
To: Steve Darling MP and constituency team
Date: 17 August 2026, 21:51
Dear Steve and Team,
I have to say that I am bitterly disappointed to see, yet again, in your latest update the statement that the "Cardiac Unit Closure [has been] Halted."
The definition of halted is stopped. That is not, as I understand it, what NHS Devon ICB has said.
The ICB has PAUSED the cardiac programme. There is a very important difference between something being paused and something being halted, stopped or scrapped.
I have raised this concern before, which makes it particularly disappointing to see this wording continuing to be used.
As fast as Save Torbay Hospital works to build public awareness and support, statements suggesting that the threat to cardiac services has been stopped risk giving people the impression that the issue has been resolved and that there is no longer any need for concern or action.
It has not been resolved. A pause is a pause, and until we receive an unequivocal commitment about the long-term future of cardiac services at Torbay Hospital, we must continue to treat the matter accordingly.
I therefore must ask: why do you continue to describe the proposed changes as "halted" when the ICB itself has described the programme as "paused"?
There is also another important point I would be grateful if you could update your team about.
The campaign has now evolved from the original Heart Campaign into Save Torbay Hospital. This reflects the fact that our concerns are no longer confined to cardiology. We are now looking at the wider issues affecting Torbay Hospital and the potential implications for its future as an acute hospital.
Please could you therefore ensure that your office and communications team are aware of this change and that, where appropriate, future references are to Save Torbay Hospital, rather than simply the Heart Campaign.
I would be grateful if future communications could reflect both the ICB's actual terminology and the current name and scope of our campaign. These are significant details. It is important that the public receives an accurate picture of the position, particularly when so many people are working extremely hard to protect these services and the wider future of Torbay Hospital.
I would also appreciate it if the wording in the current update could be corrected.
Kindest regards
Susie Colley
Director
Save Torbay Hospital Ltd
Status
Sent 17 August 2026 to the MP and his team, with campaign colleagues copied. No response received. Two things are being asked for: a correction to the wording in the current update, and adoption of the campaign's current name and scope in future communications.
What would settle it: the campaign's position is that "paused" remains the accurate description until there is an unequivocal commitment about the long-term future of cardiac services at Torbay Hospital. The ICB has so far declined to give assurances of that kind. It refused an underwritten guarantee that the hospital will not be downgraded in its One Plan for Devon correspondence of 14 April 2026, and its FOINHSD26/1566 response of 8 April 2026 is time-limited throughout. Until that changes, an update describing the closure as halted goes further than the evidence supports.