My constituents will now be aware of plans for a new hospital between Winchester and Basingstoke and the implications for acute services at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital.
Those proposals, out for consultation until March 17 2024, mean different things to different people and junction 7 of the M3 is clearly a lot further from some parts of my Winchester and Chandler’s Ford constituency than others. What we all share is potentially a big change to the way hospital services are organised and delivered.
First thing to stress, none of this is especially new. From the moment Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust brought together the RHCH, Basingstoke Hospital and Andover War Memorial this was always a reality destined to dawn.
The configuration of acute services, what’s done best where, has been discussed for many years in various guises which is one reason why I made the local NHS my top priority as our MP. Details of the many ASKtheNHS public meetings I have held over the years - some specifically focused on maternity, others looking only at A&E - remain at stevebrine.com/prioritynhs
But it was the advent of the ‘New Hospitals Programme’, and the fact Basingstoke needs a new hospital, that gave it real resonance here and finally moved a conversation to a formal consultation.
On first reading, for the NHS in Hampshire to publish details on how it will invest between £700 million and £900 million in services for my constituents, is not to be dismissed and it shows the silliness of those claiming this project is the result of Ministers cutting NHS budgets.
It is true, this kind of investment gives us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve hospital facilities. The brand-new hospital, accompanied by even more upgraded hospital buildings at Winchester, will enable our NHS to meet the changing needs of a growing and ageing population. Furthermore, it will help our local NHS to attract and retain the best staff; something I know it has struggled with in recent years.
In all options being consulted upon, Winchester hospital would continue to provide 24/7 urgent treatment, a same day emergency care service, and midwife led maternity services. At present we have full consultant-led obstetric services on both acute sites.
But modernising services across a Trust will always come with hard choices about clinical priorities. Those choices are now right in front of us.
For more than fifteen years I’ve tried to show leadership for Winchester Hospital and the important services it provides my constituents. For those of us who actually live here, it has been the place for so many life events. For my family too, including the birth of both our children, and I have personally cut the ribbon on millions of pounds of investment.
In that time, my view hasn’t changed. Winchester is a fast-growing city and I want to see A&E services maintained broadly as they are today. If that’s to change we need to know exactly what the new clinical mix will look like so we can make an informed judgement.
There is nothing inherently wrong with a midwife led birth (and if we thought there was we’d outlaw home births as a rule) but my instinct has always favoured full consultant-led maternity services on the Winchester site.
If the clinicians, who must ultimately decide, feel emergency medicine and maternity services in Winchester can be changed in a way that provides safe and sustainable services for my constituents it’s up to them to make the clinical case. We are listening.
You can follow my work, in the constituency and in Westminster, at fb.com/stevebrinemp
Happy Christmas.
