MP Maria Miller has spoken in support of the work being done at Hampshire Hospitals Trust to get the acute care part of the local NHS back on track following the immense challenges of the Covid pandemic and the consequential backlog of patients awaiting treatment. 

Dame Maria said: "Basingstoke hospital is a leader in the use of innovative technology to help care for more patients through the use of ‘virtual wards’. Technology enables some people who need monitoring and care to have fast access to clinicians without being in a hospital bed.

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"This new approach first started during the pandemic, when Hampshire Hospitals helped pioneer the new way of working and whilst not appropriate in all situations, this approach has been shown to improve patient care, reduce hospital admissions and reduce readmission rates, particularly for people with chronic conditions.“

This new way of working was outlined at a recent HHFT meeting for local residents. In the meeting, the chief executive of Hampshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust also provided an update on staffing and confirmed that as a result of a focus on recruitment the hospital has achieved full employment for all nursing and midwifery vacancies.

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Dame Maria added: “This is welcome news and will allow the hospital to continue to work hard to reduce the hospital waiting times which occurred as a result of the pandemic.

"Having all nursing and midwifery positions filled is incredibly positive and puts our local NHS trust in a good position to continue to reduce the backlog of people waiting for treatment after the two years of pandemic restrictions.’’