Derriford Hospital has issued a statement explaining why it was not able to continue with a specialist clinic after South West Devon MP Rebecca Smith raised it with Sir Keir Starmer at the last Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) of 2024.
Key Takeaways from Derriford PoTS clinic closure
- Derriford Hospital closed its PoTS clinic after the sole consultant retired, leaving many patients in Devon and Cornwall without specialist care.
- South West Devon MP Rebecca Smith raised concerns in Parliament, calling for improved treatment options for PoTS sufferers.
- Derriford and NHS Devon are working on plans to commission a new specialist service, but interim solutions remain unclear.
People suffering with Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) across Devon and Cornwall now have issues accessing local treatment due to the closure of Derriford Hospital’s Autonomic/General Medicine Clinic.
Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, or PoTS, is when heart rate increases very quickly after getting up from sitting or lying down, often making people feel dizzy or lightheaded. Currently there is no cure, but it can be managed with changes to lifestyle, or sometimes treatment with medicines.
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Approximately just 0.2% of the population are estimated to be affected by PoTS and the vast majority are women.
Anxious constituents informed Rebecca Smith that Derriford’s Autonomic/General Medicine Clinic, which treats PoTS patients, closed in June 2024 due to its consultant retiring. There are genuine concerns that the Integrated Care Board (ICB) will now push healthcare for PoTS onto GPs who do not have the required training or ability to prescribe the medications needed.
Further suggestions that PoTS patients will be referred to a new Long Covid Clinic at Exeter, where patients must suffer from Syncope to gain access, mean that 70% of patients may be without access to any consultant care, according to the MP.
Derriford PoTS Clinic Closure
Speaking in front of a packed chamber, Rebecca Smith asked the Prime Minister:
“My constituents Caroline and Savannah are just two of thousands across Devon, Cornwall and beyond who are living with postural tachycardia syndrome and have been unable to access adequate treatment since the retirement of the only consultant available to work with them in July.
“What actions can the Prime Minister take to help me secure the treatment that my constituents need, and will he agree to meet me and them to discuss the treatment of POTS in more detail?”
The Prime Minister responded:
“I thank the Honourable Lady for raising this important issue on behalf of her constituents. It underlines the critical nature of the NHS workforce plan that we will deliver next summer to ensure that the expert workforce is in place and get the NHS back on its feet.
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“I am proud that we are investing an additional £22.6 billion to fix our NHS.“I will of course ensure she gets a meeting with the relevant Minister to deal with the issues of concern to her constituents.”
Derriford Hospital has since issued a statement after learning that the issue was raised in Parliament. Dr Paul McArdle, Joint Interim Medical Director at University Hospitals Plymouth (UHP), and John Finn Director of Commissioning NHS Devon, said in a joint statement:
“UHP and the consultant who ran the POTS clinic were not commissioned by NHS Devon (or its predecessor organisation, NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group) to provide a specific PoTS service.
“The consultant had a specialist interest in POTS and provided the service for POTS patients as part of his general medicine portfolio but working as a sole practitioner. The service was based at Derriford Hospital but saw patients from all over the South West.
“PoTS is what is known as a super specialist interest area and this specialist care is only provided by very few consultants in the country. It is not a specialist service offered by very many hospitals, including tertiary centres like University Hospitals Plymouth.
“Working in partnership with NHS Devon, we have been considering how services might be commissioned in the future. A commissioning specification for the service has been outlined by NHS Devon and is seeking expressions of interest. In the interim, those patients who were managed by the previous consultant have been reviewed and triaged to different pathways dependent on the severity of need.”
(Story courtesy of Plympton Podcast)
