Ottery St Mary Hospital will not close, according to East Devon MP Hugo Swire. In statement issued this morning the MP also took a potshot at Independent East Devon parliamentary candidate Claire Wright, asking her 'not to seek to stir up more anxiety about its future'.

Today (October 31), East Devon MP Sir Hugo Swire has received formal confirmation from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care that Ottery St Mary Hospital will not close.

In a letter, Mr Hancock also expressed his support for the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust taking on formal ownership of the hospital's estate and its assets from the state-run NHS Property Services.

East Devon MP Sir Hugo Swire said: "It is quite clear from this that Ottery St Mary Hospital has a future. I am delighted that I have managed to secure this after several months of lobbying the Department for Health and Social Care.

"I hope that Claire Wright will not seek to stir up more anxiety about its future. For too long, the future of the hospital has been the subject of false rumours. I therefore hope that local constituents and the press alike will realise this is not the hot political news it is often made out to be.

"As Ottery St Mary Hospital transitions towards a health and wellbeing hub, we will have more services – mental health, dementia support, gym classes – to better serve the needs of local people.

"Across the country, we are building more community hospitals, not closing them. The PM is delivering an additional £33.9 billion for our NHS to make sure our frontline services have the funding they need."

Nub News has contacted Claire Wright for a response to Sir Hugo's comments.