Building work has started on the new Eye Hub at South Molton Community Hospital.

The former renal unit at the hospital will be redeveloped to create the new £1.25m facility.

The hub will provide diagnostic services and treatments for people with new eye problems and people managing long-term conditions, such as glaucoma and medical retina conditions.

The hub in South Molton will increase the capacity of the ophthalmology (eye) services provided in Northern Devon by the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. This will complement and reinforce the specialist services and ophthalmic treatments currently provided across existing sites at Bideford Community Hospital and North Devon District Hospital.

The new hub is being part-funded by South Molton Community Hospital League of Friends, who have generously donated £500,000 towards the project.

Members of the League of Friends joined Royal Devon at the site as work began earlier this month.

Karen Donaldson, Divisional Director, Surgical, Northern Services at the Royal Devon, said: “We are delighted to see the start of work on this brilliant new facility. It will enable us to reduce waiting times that have lengthened with the pandemic, and so lowering the risk of people’s eye conditions getting worse, but it will also allow us to deliver the very latest eye care here in North Devon.”

David Goodman, Chairman of the South Molton League of Friends, added: “When the renal unit at South Molton Hospital was built several years ago, the money to provide it was donated by the people of South Molton and surrounding parishes. When the unit closed and moved to Barnstaple, the League of Friends began discussing with the Trust how best this building could be used to provide health facilities to the people from South Molton and surrounding areas.

“Local people have been very generous over the past years and supported the League of Friends, which meant we had a substantial amount of money in our bank account, so we were delighted to offer the Trust a donation of £500,000 towards the cost of this ophthalmology unit, which will mean that local people with eye conditions will not have to travel to Barnstaple for check-ups. We feel that the facilities provided by the new unit will be the best use of this redundant building.”

The unit will have the potential to provide 50 appointments per session, significantly increasing the capacity within the ophthalmology service.

The Royal Devon is covering the remaining setup and ongoing running costs, including the recruitment and training of new staff for the hub. Job opportunities will be advertised in the coming months. It is hoped work will be complete by the end of the year.

• South Molton League of Friends will be hosting a stall at South Molton Pannier Market on Thursday 10 November 2022 9am-1pm, where you can learn more about the new hub.