Torbay Hospital Secures £8m for Fire Safety Upgrades
Additional funding will support essential fire compartmentalisation work in the Tower Block, with temporary service changes to reduce occupancy.
By Verity Coombes
••3 min read
AI
Generic image of a hospital building with a tower block, set against a West Country landscape under a soft, changeable sky.
Torbay Hospital has secured an additional £8 million for vital fire safety work in its Tower Block, following an initial £1.8 million announced in September. Temporary service changes will also be implemented to reduce occupancy.
The new funding will support substantial improvements to fire compartmentalisation within the Tower Block. The safety of patients, staff, and visitors remains the Trust's absolute priority. Fire safety risks in the Tower Block have been recognised and managed for many years through various measures, including staff training, evacuation planning, and ongoing investment in partnership with Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service has confirmed that recent changes have reduced the risk, extending the deadline for necessary actions from 06 November to 18 December. The temporary service changes aim to reduce the number of people cared for in the Tower Block at any one time, while maintaining inpatient capacity. No services are being closed, and most will remain within Torbay and South Devon, with one service temporarily relocating to Totnes Community Hospital.
Work on these temporary arrangements is scheduled for November and early December 2026. Services from Simpson Ward in the Hetherington Unit will move to Harbourne Ward at Totnes Community Hospital, allowing respiratory inpatient services from Midgley Ward in the Tower Block to relocate to Simpson Ward. Services from Hutchings Day Unit will move to the Horizon Centre on the Torbay Hospital site. Occupancy in the Tower Block will be reduced across Allerton and Cromie Wards.
The fire compartmentalisation work in the Tower Block is being developed, with the detailed construction programme still being finalised. Work is expected to begin on the first ward floor in spring 2027, with completion of the first floor in summer 2027 and the second in early autumn. The overall programme is anticipated to be completed by February 2028.
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"There are no easy answers when managing some of the oldest NHS estate in the country or making changes of this kind. We now have the further investment we need to carry out the compartmentalisation work in the Tower and a practical way forward that keeps services within Torbay and South Devon."
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"We’ve thought very carefully about how we continue to care for people while reducing occupancy in the Tower Block. These changes have accelerated plans to improve how we deliver elements of care on our acute and community hospital sites."
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"This additional funding for the Tower Block is very welcome news. Torbay’s estate is one of the oldest in the NHS, and parts of the hospital are simply not fit for patients or staff. If we want a 21st-century standard of healthcare, we must invest in the infrastructure to deliver it. Failing to do so is a false economy."
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"It is excellent news that we have secured the necessary funding for the Tower Block at Torbay Hospital from NHS England’s regional team. This will allow the Trust to carry out the fire safety work needed while protecting as much hospital capacity as safely possible."
