IT PROMISES to be a lifeline – the difference between life and death in fact – for countless numbers of the most seriously- ill people every year.

Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) is proposing to create a huge new critical treatment hospital, expected to cost in excess of £150million, on a 22-hectare greenfield site on the north side of the A30 near junction 7 of the M3.

Health chiefs have hailed it as the best solution to provide healthcare for a vast swathe of Hampshire, and Hart – from Eastleigh to Newbury and Andover to Hook including Basingstoke.

But not everyone agrees, as the mixed reaction at last week’s unveiling of the plans showed.

As reported in The Gazette, scores of people from Basingstoke and beyond attended two public exhibitions, held last week by HHFT at Basingstoke Golf Club.

Locals were able to get a first glimpse of plans for the new hospital and for a £18.5million cancer treatment centre, which will be built on the same site, led by another team from HHFT.

Trust bosses say that the new hospital is vital for both patients and for the future of the trust, but some people – particularly those who live close to the proposed site – have raised concerns over noise and light pollution, and increased traffic.

The North Waltham Action Group has been set up to voice these concerns.

Other people attending the exhibition expressed disappointment at a perceived lack of communication from the trust about the plans, and raised concerns over how the project would be funded.

Among those at the exhibition were friends Ernest Unger, from North Waltham, and George Turner, who lives in Bramblys Close, in Basingstoke.

Ernest, 80, said he felt that there had been a real lack of communication from the trust about the plans.

He said: “It’s good that we’re able to come here today and ask questions, but I feel we have been kept in the dark about what the plans are.

“It has not been made clear to the public how the trust can afford to pay back the money which will be borrowed.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions.”

George, 75, was more upbeat about the plans, saying: “I think it sounds wonderful.

“I will probably be one of the first patients taken there, with my health, and I think it will be very reassuring to know it is there.

“Any of us could need this in the future.”

There were also concerns raised about how maternity services would be affected, as a big part of the plans will be relocating consultant-led maternity care to the new facility, leaving midwife-led services remaining at Basingstoke and Winchester sites.

Obstetrician Mr Michael Heard spoke to many people at the public exhibition last Wednesday, hoping to put fears to rest.

He said: “There is a feeling that services will be downgraded, but having spoken to many women about their preferences, it’s clear that their priority is getting the best possible care for them and their babies.”

The plan is that low-risk mothers will choose to give birth at their local centres while those classed as high-risk, including all first-time mums, will prefer to give birth at the new site.

Mr Heard said: “There is this fear that people will be transferred between the sites while in labour, but for second-time mums, the chance of being a blue light emergency is only around one in 500.

“I would also point out that the same applies for women who choose to have a home birth.”

The new critical treatment hospital, which has a 34,000 square metre floor area, will have four key clinical areas – emergency, diagnostics and paediatric, theatres and critical care, maternity and a local neo-natal unit, and an in-patient ward.

It will treat patients in a critical or lifethreatening condition, with staff dealing with major trauma injuries, heart attacks, strokes and other emergencies and it will have specialist Emergency Department consultants available 24 hours a day.

A full planning application is set to be submitted in March, and will be followed by a public consultation. The tender for the work should be completed by November, and health watchdog Monitor will then be invited to approve the plans.

If approved, building work on the emergency hospital should begin in 2016, and it should be opened by the end of 2018.

Mary Edwards, chief executive at HHFT said: “Thank you to everyone who came along to our planning application exhibition. It’s really important to us that we hear the views of local people, and we will consider the feedback in our planning application that we hope to submit in the spring.

“We appreciate that our planning application is only one step to understanding if this site is a viable option in preparation for a formal public consultation, which would be led by the NHS clinical commissioning groups.”

 

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