THE NHS in Hampshire has confirmed it will give the community the chance to have their say on proposals to build a new hospital to serve Basingstoke and North Hampshire.
As previously reported, on Thursday, November 30 Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust published details on its proposals to invest between £700m and £900m across the county into hospital services.
Those behind the project have now revealed their preferred option is to build a new hospital on land at Junction 7 of the M3, which would include the relocation of Basingstoke’s emergency department and maternity services, along with centralising some services across Hampshire.
Now, on Wednesday, December 6, the NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board has taken the decision to consult patients, carers, staff, local communities and health and care partners on the proposals.
READ MORE: New £800m specialist acute hospital to be built in Basingstoke
Announcing the decision, Maggie MacIsaac, chief executive of NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, said: “These exciting proposals provide a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve hospital facilities and hospital services and enable our colleagues to provide the very best care for people who need it.”
“The proposals have been designed by clinicians, with patients, and are based on clinical evidence and best practice. At their heart is the need to deliver safe, high-quality services, sustainable for the future, with sufficient specialist staff to run services well.
“At this stage, they are still proposals. We are keen to hear what people think of the options we are putting forward, how the proposals could impact on them, and where they think they could be improved.”
The plans would see the creation of a new dedicated children’s emergency department at the new hospital and an obstetrician-led birthing unit alongside a midwife-led birthing unit.
It would also include a neonatal unit to care for poorly babies preventing families from having to travel to Southampton, as well as a cancer treatment centre.
Under the plans, services such as outpatient appointments, diagnostics, therapy services, and day-care surgery would continue from the current Basingstoke hospital site, while Winchester hospital would be upgraded to have a dedicated planned surgery centre.
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The public will be asked to consider three options, with the first – option 1 - building a new hospital at the current site of Basingstoke hospital, in Aldermaston Road.
However, this option would cost £948m, compared to £807m for the ‘preferred’ option 2 to build a hospital at Junction 7 of the M3.
A third option has also been added to the list, which is identical to option 2 other than having nurse-led rehabilitation beds at the current Basingstoke hospital site. This is expected to cost £860m.
Option 2 has been chosen as the preferred way forward because it would be easier to build at Junction 7 and it would place specialist and emergency care more centrally between Basingstoke and Winchester, without requiring the nursing workforce to be split across an additional site.
The consultation will launch on Monday, December 11and run until midnight on Sunday, March 17 next year.
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