The NHS has been urged by activists to reevaluate its plans to close a community hospital in Devon.
In order to transform the facility into a recovery hospital and lessen the strain on the NHS, the League of Friends of Teignmouth Hospital said it could contribute £1 million in funding.
Health officials made the choice to close the hospital in 2018.
Local council members claimed that since the initial choice, the health system is under much more pressure.
During a budget meeting on Tuesday, Teignbridge District Council decided to support the hospital and to write to the Secretary of State for Health to request a review of the proposed closure.
Some services have been transferred to Dawlish Hospital as part of the hospital's closure plans, and there are plans to build a new health center in the community.
However, activists claimed that the strains currently placed on Devon's NHS hospitals demonstrated the need for beds.
The League of Friends of Teignmouth Hospital's president, Freda Welton, stated that since the hospital's opening in 1954, the nonprofit organization has already invested more than £2 million in it.
We need beds, she said, adding that the hospital and the money belonged to the residents of Teignmouth.
"We all know people who are unable to leave Torbay and are stuck there. ".
The council's leader, Councillor Alan Connett, said: "Community hospitals can play a really important role in supplying those beds that allow patients to leave primary hospital beds and go somewhere before returning home.
"Locations like Teignmouth can offer that chance. ".
The member for communities, Councillor Martin Wrigley, urged the NHS to reconsider the need for the hospital.
If the pandemic taught us anything, it was that the NHS requires more adaptability and space that can be used in a variety of ways.
"Selling the Teignmouth Hospital is a stupid move. ".
Locals have "continuing concerns," the chief executive of the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, Liz Davenport, acknowledged.
We have invited important local stakeholders to a meeting so that we can put together a group and decide how to involve the community in discussions about the site's future, she said.
