HEALTH bosses have confirmed they are urgently looking at plans to find a new home for a Teignmouth surgery.

The future of Channel View Medical Practice was left up in the air after plans for a new health and wellbeing centre in the town centre were scrapped in the summer.

That decision, due to spiralling costs, potentially left the surgery, which had been due to be based at the site in Brunswick Street, homeless. 

A report presented to members of Devon County Council’s adult healthcare scrutiny committee said a solution to find the surgery a new home was needed as the lease on one of Channel View’s sites in Den Crescent ends in March next year. 

The update was given to members on progress.

The health and wellbeing centre plans were pulled in July due to construction costs doubling and an increased cost of borrowing. 

Since then, the boards of NHS Devon and Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (TSD) have had to ‘fast track’ work to find a new home for Channel View which was due to relocate from its two town centre bases into the new building. 

Subsequent meetings of both trusts, held in public and  in private due to commercial and financial implications, have been held to discuss the issue.

The report to councillors said it had been agreed ‘immediate action’ was needed to support Channel View surgery and ‘enable continuity of primary care services in Teignmouth’. 

No options have so far been made public. 

The report continued: ‘The Board approved a series of recommendations regarding resources to support work to resolve the accommodation issues in the short and medium term. 

‘Since then, NHS Devon primary care and estates colleagues have been working very closely with the partners and Channel View to secure both short and longer term estates solution. 

‘To ensure services remain in place, this work includes negotiations for the retention of existing estate, together with potential additional office space to enable the practice to operate as effectively as possible within those premises. 

‘NHS Devon remains committed to seeking a one-site longer term solution for the practice and patients.’

A further update is expected in November.