Cardiovascular and heart services.

Latest update – 26 March 2026

At our Joint Committee on 26 March 2026, we decided to bring the case for change for cardiology and cardiovascular services into our wider health and care planning as part of our five-year commissioning plan and the neighbourhood health model.

We will not progress the case for change programme at this time. 

Over the past year we have seen real improvements in access, performance and prevention. With the NHS Long Term Plan, the Devon health and care strategy and our commissioning five‑year plan now in place, our focus is on delivering these system‑wide priorities.

This allows us to look at the whole picture—how we prevent heart and wider health problems, diagnose them earlier, and support people closer to home.

Taking this joined-up approach will help ensure services continue to meet the needs of our communities in the future.

We know people care deeply about their local heart services. There are no plans to change where cardiology services are delivered right now.

We are committed to keeping local people, staff and stakeholders informed and involved as our plans develop.

Sign up to our lived experience group

To support the delivery of our Devon Five Year Commissioning Plan – we are creating a new lived experience group, with a focus on long term health conditions, which includes diabetes, heart and lung conditions.

We are looking for local people who have lived experience of a range of conditions that can help us shape the way we plan and develop health and care services in the future.

There will be different ways for you to get involved and have your say, with both online and in-person opportunities available.

This could include taking part in surveys, giving feedback in a group discussion or being involved in work to design future services alongside our staff.

To register your interest – please complete this short registration form.  We will then invite you to attend an information session to find out more.

Previous statements

20 March 2026

Libby Ryan-Davies, Chief Strategic Planning and Commissioning Officer at NHS Devon, said:

“Next week, our board will be asked to consider a recommendation to bring the case for change for cardiology and cardiovascular services into our wider health and care planning, including our five-year commissioning plan and the neighbourhood health model we are beginning to implement.

“This would allow us to look at the whole picture—how we prevent heart and wider health problems, diagnose them earlier, and support people closer to home, alongside the care provided in hospital.

“Taking this joined-up approach will help ensure services are sustainable for the future and continue to meet the needs of our communities.

“We know people care deeply about their local heart services, so we want to be clear about what’s being proposed. No decisions have been made at this stage, and there are no plans to change where cardiology services are delivered right now.

“We are committed to keeping local people, staff and stakeholders informed and involved as our plans develop.”

Our board papers for Thursday 26 March will be published on the cluster website.

3 December 2025

An open letter to the people of Devon

Developing a case for change for cardiovascular disease, cardiology and cardiac surgery services 

Dear residents,

The health and wellbeing of local people is an absolute priority for NHS Devon and Cardiovascular (heart) disease is one of the leading causes of premature death and health inequality in the county. Now more than ever – there is a clear need to consider how health and care services can collaborate more effectively to improve the way we work together for the long-term benefit of local people.

We are finalising our plans to develop future pathways for cardiovascular disease, cardiology and cardiac surgery services across Devon – with the aim of reviewing how we can better support the long-term heart health of our population — not only through hospital-based cardiac care, but also through a greater focus on prevention, support for earlier interventions, and better access to community-based services.

Developing a draft case for change for cardiovascular disease, cardiology and cardiac surgery services.  

We have recently published our Health and Care strategy, which explains our intention to ensure equitable access to health and care services for people across Devon, Plymouth and Torbay.

A key aim of our strategy is to reduce cardiovascular disease in Devon, improving the heart health of our whole population, especially for our future generations.  

Central to the strategy is reducing waiting times and doing everything we can to prevent people needing NHS services for as long as possible – this is an essential part of what we want our cardiology programme to deliver.

The first important step in our plans to reduce cardiovascular disease is the drafting of a ‘case for change’ for cardiovascular disease, cardiology and cardiac surgery services across Devon, which sets out the data and detail of what we could improve and where health inequalities could be reduced.

Case for change – does not mean closure of services.

We want to reassure local people that the aim of our Cardiology programme is not about reducing or closing local services but focusing on how we can support local people to look after their health and prevent them developing heart conditions.

We want to help those with existing heart conditions, to live healthier lives with timely treatment when they need it.

To be really clear, the draft case for change does not contain any proposals for ‘change’ or ‘closure’, and a case for change doesn’t automatically lead to service changes for NHS services.

It is important everyone understands the case for change, and the complexity of the challenges facing Devon’s population – which are not limited to one particular area of the health service – and will cover heart health throughout a person’s life.

Involving health professionals, stakeholders and local people in our plans.

We want to improve the health and wellbeing of local people together with a wide range of different health professionals, partners and stakeholders. We are designing a detailed engagement plan to ensure that we can do that. We have already involved clinicians and key stakeholders (such as local MPs) in understanding what needs to change. The development of a ‘case for change’, comprehensively describes the current and future needs of the local population, the provision of local services and the key challenges facing the health and care system that must be addressed.  

Following early feedback from cardiology clinical leads from across Devon and local MPs, the draft case for change is currently being reviewed and updated. We will then share the case for change more widely with local authority Overview and Scrutiny Committees, the Heart Campaign and wider key stakeholders for further consideration.

A clinical validation exercise, led by the NHS Devon Chief Medical Officer will then follow. This will ensure the draft case for change and supporting technical document is robust, evidence based and clinically led.

We plan to publish the updated draft case for change and supporting technical document for wider patient and public engagement between January-March 2026.

As part of this first phase of engagement activity, we will be writing to our stakeholders to keep them informed and invite them to planned briefings for local MPs, council members and people from across provider partners, primary care networks, Healthwatch and voluntary sector organisations.  

Once complete – all the feedback will be used to develop the documents further as part of the continuous engagement process.

How to keep informed about our plans:

• Visit the dedicated Cardiology One Devon webpage.

• Sign up to receive updates by completing this short form.

• Register your interest in our new lived experience group – please complete this short form. This is a group for people with experience of living or caring for someone with a long-term health condition – we want to hear from you. To register your interest

We are committed to being transparent and inclusive throughout and encourage you to sign up to be kept informed. This will ensure you receive accurate information and the very latest updates as the programme progresses.

We look forward to working with you, to deliver on our commitment to improve heart health for local people in Devon.

Yours sincerely,

Libby Ryan-Davies

Chief Strategic Planning and Commissioning Officer

NHS Devon