BASINGSTOKE MP Maria Miller has called on bosses at NHS England to support a plan for a new Critical Treatment Hospital ahead of a meeting tomorrow.

As previously reported by The Gazette, a plan to build a new £150million Critical Treatment Hospital and an £18.5m state-of-the-art cancer centre was given planning permission at a meeting on October 7.

This is despite opposition from the North and West Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) who said they could not support a formal consultation on the proposal, which aims to centralise services, at the current stage.

In a letter sent to stakeholders they stated the primary reason was that “the predicted costs of services supplied in this way significantly exceeds the funds available to commissioners”.

And the town’s MP, Mrs Miller, will be meeting with senior management at NHS England tomorrow to discuss the plans, calling it “unacceptable” for the body to block the plans.

NHS England is an independent body which aims to improve health outcomes for people across England.

NHS England oversees the operation and allocates resources to Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Mrs Miller said: “Detailed financial analysis shows this new unit would save money and sit alongside a new state of the art cancer treatment centre.

“After two years of detailed development the management in NHS England is now blocking these plans.

“To delay now would be astonishing and would mean NHS money being wasted on more bureaucracy rather than where we need it, delivering patient care.”

The Basingstoke MP added: “What is equally astonishing is that NHS England has been working with our hospital, hand in glove, for the past two years throughout the development of these detailed plans.

“At a time when north Hampshire is being asked to take many thousands of new homes it is unacceptable for NHS England to block this vital new facility. Many thousands of pounds of tax payers money has been spent developing these plans with NHS England.

“It's easy for the NHS management to delay decisions. But it's our community that ends up paying the price.

“I have backed our Hospital's proposals from the start and will continue to do so. We cannot allow bureaucrats to block innovation, new facilities that save money and could literally save lives.”

A spokesman for NHS England said: “NHS England totally refutes the allegation that it has blocked plans for a new critical treatment hospital in the north Hampshire area.

“However, the NHS has a responsibility to plan truly integrated services for 100 per cent of the local population working with our other hospitals in Hampshire and wider health and care services outside of hospital.

“The proposal for the critical treatment hospital clearly sets out how it will serve 15 per cent of patients but healthcare cannot be planned for one group in isolation.”

He added: “We support our local clinical leaders, who know the needs of their communities, in their decision to look strategically at new ways of delivering care with closer integration between hospital services and primary, community and local authority services.

“NHS England’s role is to assure that proposals from our CCGs will provide high quality care which is affordable and sustainable. We look forward to discussing how this might be achieved with our local Hampshire MPs tomorrow."