THE Women’s Equality Party candidate for Hatch Warren and Beggarwood has responded to reassurances from Maria Miller MP on the funding for Basingstoke’s new hospital.

As previously reported, the chief executive of Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT), Alex Whitfield, has raised concerns over the funding of a new Basingstoke hospital following the publication of a government report stating that the £22bn funding for the National Hospital Programme does not include those in cohort 4, which Basingstoke hospital is in.

Ms Whitfield received a written response from the DHSC on February 7 which she has shared with the Gazette, stating that the DHSC wishes to “provide reassurance to the people of Hampshire”.

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It reiterated that the £700m to £900m for the Hampshire scheme is an “indicative allocation” but added: “We would not have supported a move to public consultation if we were not confident that funding would be available for the programme.”

Basingstoke MP Maria Miller previously refused to answer Gazette requests for an interview over the concerns, instead issuing a statement saying: “The money is already allocated by the Treasury which is why the Hampshire Hospital NHS Trust is moving ahead.”

The Women’s Equality Party Basingstoke launched a petition in January calling on Dame Maria to ensure the hospital funding is included in the Spring Budget on March 6. The petition now has more than 750 signatures.

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Stacy Hart, the party’s candidate for Hatch Warren and Beggarwood, said: “Since the launch of our petition, not one of the statements or letters released by Maria Miller MP have answered the questions we raised about Basingstoke’s removal from the New Hospitals Project current funding allocation, or given information on when we will see the necessary further funding confirmed by the Department for Health.

“Our cross-party campaign and the hundreds of signatories who support it are not questioning the funding case process, and we have laid out a detailed explanation of this in a new video update. Rather, we are concerned with the utter lack of any concrete Government spending plans for the hospitals in cohort four, which flies in the face of repeated claims of “ring-fenced and secured” funding.

“Verbal promises are not enough, and I urge people to sign our petition asking for the funding explicitly and in writing.”

Maria Miller has been contacted for a comment.