HEALTH services across north and mid Hampshire are set to undergo their biggest modernisation programme in 50 years.
Hampshire Together: Modernising our Hospitals and Health Services, is an exciting programme that will involve all NHS and social care services across Alton, Andover, Basingstoke, Eastleigh, Winchester and the surrounding areas.
The centrepiece will be the construction of a brand new hospital – but the programme’s impact will reach far beyond the walls of this new building, involving GPs, mental health, community care, social care and the wider voluntary sector, as well as acute hospital care.
The central aim is to deliver a joined-up healthcare system that supports patients, their families and their carers to access the right care, in the right place, at the right time in order to keep them healthy.
The programme is being led by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Partnership of Clinical Commissioning Groups and West Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group, in partnership with Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Andover War Memorial Hospital, Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital and Royal Hampshire County Hospital, in Winchester.
Hampshire Hospitals was last year named as one of the trusts chosen to receive capital funding as part of the Department of Health and Social Care’s Health Infrastructure Plan (HIP). This is designed to support 40 hospital building projects across the country between 2025 and 2030 and it is this funding that will be used to create the new hospital.
Throughout June and July, these NHS organisations will be seeking the views of the public based on a listening document that explains the challenges currently faced, the opportunities that the programme presents and the factors that need to be considered when making what will be some difficult choices.
The listening document, along with much more information about the programme and an online comment form can be found at www.hampshiretogether.nhs.uk. You can also find Hampshire Together on Twitter (www.twitter.com/HampshireMOHHS) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/hampshiretogether). If you would like to receive the listening document and a comment form by post, write to the programme at FREEPOST Hampshire Together (no stamp required) with your name and address.