NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens today announces a major investment boost to upgrade GP surgeries and local cancer and mental health treatment for patients in Devon and across the South West of England.

On a visit to Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and Devon Partnership NHS Trust, Mr Stevens announced:

• New Linac Radiotherapy equipment for Devon and Torbay

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust were today designated as the first hospitals eligible to receive new, state of the art, linear accelerators (LINACs) over the coming year, under the recently announced £130m NHS England investment to upgrade radiotherapy equipment.

Recent advances in radiotherapy have helped target radiation doses at cancer cells more precisely. As a result, they enable better outcomes, with improved quality of life for patients and reduced NHS costs in the long term, through patients experiencing fewer side effects.

•        A new specialist secure mental health unit for South West

NHS England today announced that it will fund a new secure mental health services adult unit reducing the need for people to travel out of the South West region. Up to 75 beds at a new hospital in Wellington will be commissioned by NHS England in collaboration with Devon Partnership NHS Trust. The Wellesley Hospital will enable patients to return to the South West from hospitals all over the country supporting people towards independence. The beds will be opened in phases according to patient need starting from January 2017.

• GP surgeries in the South West to benefit from premises upgrade 

NHS England has today also announced that more than 30 GP schemes in the South West are set for new investment through its Estates and Technology Transformation Fund to improve premises and IT infrastructure and expand the range of services for patients. These new schemes are in addition to 33 schemes already completed in the South West and 25 either at construction or going through due diligence checks.

Simon Stevens said: “There are some brilliant NHS services across the South West. We’re determined to see practical action to help offer even better cancer, mental health and GP services for people across Devon, and today the NHS is demonstrably putting its money where it’s mouth is.”

Angela Pedder, lead chief executive for the Devon Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), said:

“These announcements support key elements of our STP and will mean quicker GP appointments, more local mental health services and modern cancer treatment. So it is highly welcome to see NHS England backing our work with practical action and major new investment in improving local services for the people of Devon and Torbay. Common sense changes like these are really important to patients, and are right at the top of our to-do list in our Sustainability and Transformation Plan.”

Mairead McAlinden, chief executive officer at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“This radical update to our radiotherapy equipment means that Torbay Hospital now has the latest technology to support our clinical teams in providing high quality cancer services to our local population.  We diagnose and treat over 1,000 people each year and this additional investment is funding one of two new linear accelerators, these state of the art machines will ‘future proof’ our Hospital, allowing us to meet the needs of the people of Torbay and South Devon who are referred to Torbay Hospital’s cancer services.“

Melanie Walker, CEO of Devon Partnership NHS Trust, said:

“We’re delighted that a new specialist mental health unit will soon be delivering care closer to home for people across the South West. NHS England has listened to our argument that we need to reduce the need for patients to travel out of area for care they could receive more locally. This new unit means many more people will be able to get treatment close to their families preventing unnecessary distress and aiding recovery.”