CONCERNS have been raised that plans to separate planned care from specialist and emergency care with the building of a new hospital could result in delays to those requiring urgent and lifesaving treatment.

Hampshire County Council’s Adult Health and Care team responded to Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) consultation on plans to build a new hospital for the town and update the Royal County Hospital at Winchester.

The plans, which have been put on hold while the new government reviews the national New Hospital Programme, could see a new hospital built in Basingstoke.

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Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital (Image: Basingstoke Gazette) Under the plans, Basingstoke’s emergency department and maternity services could be relocated to a new hospital site on land at Junction 7 of the M3, and some services across Hampshire centralised.

A dedicated children’s emergency department could be created at the new hospital, as well as an obstetrician-led birthing unit alongside a midwife-led birthing unit.

Services such as outpatient appointments, diagnostics, therapy services, and day-care surgery would continue from the current Basingstoke hospital site.

Winchester hospital would be upgraded to have a dedicated planned surgery centre, meaning that specialist and emergency care would be separated.

More than half of those who took part in the consultation (54 per cent) were concerned by this, including the county council’s Adults’ Health Care team.

A comment from the team submitted as part of the consultation said: “… relying on one unit covering a large geographical area could result in further delays for people requiring urgent and lifesaving treatment. As it stands, public transport and road networks do not support residents to travel quickly between locations…”.

It added: "It is not currently clear how the two proposed hospitals with different remits will benefit the public [...] Assurance is required on how the proposal would be future proofed and sustainable.”

The team also raised concerns about travel, identifying possible risks. 

It said: “Adults’ Health and Care has identified that there is a risk of breach of Article 1 – if there is a lack of specialist resource in life or limb-threatening situations.

"In addition, there is a possible breach within Article 5 – right to family life, if people cannot visit their relatives due to lack of transport links, how will families be supported to get into hospital if they no longer have transport links to facilitate this."

It suggested considering schemes to 'enable support networks to drive people, whilst not solely relying on community volunteers', adding: "As information on population, equality and inclusion has been omitted it is difficult to comment, it would be important to consider hard to reach groups and transient communities. Alongside this, consider a community engagement plan to ensure the suggested changes will be comprehended by all.” 

Of the 17 named organisations that responded to the questionnaire in an official capacity to the proposed location for the dedicated planned surgery centre, 12 agreed or strongly agreed, including Age Concern Hampshire, Neonatal physio service HHFT, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, South Central Ambulance Service and Women's Equality Party Basingstoke. 

Two respondents neither agreed nor disagreed and three, including a HHFT governor, disagreed. 

The plans are currently being considered as part of an ‘urgent review’ on the New Hospital Programme announced on July 29 by chancellor Rachel Reeves.

In her statement, Ms Reeves said there will be a ‘thorough, realistic and costed timetable for delivery’ of 40 new hospitals, including the proposed Basingstoke hospital, promised by the former Conservative government in 2020.

Caroline Morison, chief strategy officer at NHS Hampshire & Isle of Wight, previously said: “We continue to work to the timescales set by the national New Hospital Programme.

“We have recently published the independent report on the public consultation on the options for how we are proposing to invest the allocated funding for hospital services in Hampshire. We are grateful to everyone who took the time to share their views during the consultation period earlier this year and are pleased that the consultation reached so many people in our local communities.

“We are now continuing to move towards making a decision regarding the investment in services to improve local health provision for people in Hampshire. We expect to finalise a decision-making business case later this year.”