People might wonder why the CCG meeting was reported as having unanimously voted in favour of closing the beds at Torrington Community Hospital when the BBC video appeared to show only seven hands up during the voting process. It’s quite simple really – although not well explained by the CCG Board.

Although there are fifteen Board members, only seven of them can vote. Six of the seven voting members are local (to North Devon) GPs. The seventh voting member is the Managing Director of the local CCG.

So six local GPs can vote and only one manager can.

My own feeling is that a lay member (i.e. ‘ordinary’ member of the public who sits on the Board) should also have a vote.