On Friday 21 November members of the Trust marked the official beginning of the demolition of Munro and Chichester House at North Devon District Hospital (NDDH). This milestone marks the next step on the path towards developing our clinical buildings as part of the Our Future Hospital (OFH) programme, which will improve our hospital so that it is able meet the needs of the population of north Devon for many years to come.   

To celebrate this important milestone, David Sanders, OFH Clinical Lead and Nicola Brewer, OFH Associate Programme Director were joined by Angela Walter, Royal Devon Admiral Nurse and Ian Roome MP who had both been residents of Munro and Chichester House in the past. 

From left: Zahara Hyde, OFH Director; Mike Hooper, Gilpiln Site Manager; Matt Hitchens, OFH Project Coordinator; David Sanders, OFH Clinical Lead; Ian Roome MP; Angela Walter, Royal Devon Admiral Nurse; Nicola Brewer, OFH Associate Programme Director.

This work marks the start of our exciting £22.7m project, part of the OFH programme to provide modern, fit for purpose accommodation at NDDH. This enabling work is crucial, as developing better facilities for staff will support the Trust to recruit and retain the very best talent, meeting our ambitions to be a great place to work and is the first step in delivering a sustainable local service into the future.

David Sanders, OFH Clinical Lead said: "After five years of uncertainty and delays surrounding the Our Future Hospital programme, we are finally entering a phase of real and visible progress. It has taken time to reach this point, and it comes as a much-needed positive step.

In February, construction will begin on the new staff residences providing modern, purpose-built accommodation designed to support those who work here. This will also enable the future relocation of the staff car park, unlocking our site and making space for the major and much needed clinical build that will follow."

Nicola Brewer and David Sanders featured on BBC Spotlight on Friday evening and talked about the demolition. More importantly they explained how this work is essential for our future clinical delivery and how this is the first step towards the full redevelopment of our clinical estate including new fit for purpose operating theatres, intensive care unit, increased diagnostic facilities and improvements to our women and children's services. 

In addition, we are also seeing further investment in:

• A new permanent MRI scanner that will open in December ensuring greater local diagnostics capacity and capability
• The development of a Same-Day Emergency Care (SDEC) facility to improve the experience of emergency care for our patients and support patient flow.
• A new research hub that will be completed by summer 2026 supporting clinical research trials at NDDH

Angela Walter, Admiral Nurse joined the Radio Devon breakfast show and spoke to BBC reporter Hattie McCann about her experience while living there and how important the new residences are for attracting new staff to North Devon and why it is so important to see investment in the future of services at NDDH.

Angela Walter, Admiral Nurse speaks to BBC reporter Hattie McCann