As reported, Hampshire Hospitals have now received confirmation of guidelines and some £5m in initial seed funding to support a rebuild at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital.
Back in September I announced that we’d secured significant investment for the Trust as part of the Government’s Health Infrastructure Plan which is designed to support 40 hospital building projects across England. A team is now being brought together to build safe and sustainable services in Winchester for the long-term and I couldn’t be more pleased.
Needless to say, this is fantastic for all the NHS locally but above all for the community and the patients it serves. Winchester Hospital (and Basingstoke which forms part of the HHFT of course) are much-loved and have done great service but they were built many years ago and are now showing their age. It was this we had to ensure Ministers recognised.
The programme is at a very early stage, and lots of possibilities are now under consideration but I am pleased the Trust will be actively seeking to engage with us to get views on the kind of hospital we want to see in the city.
I am regularly in the RHCH as you know – meeting with senior managers, staff and patients – and will be doing my bit to ensure this engagement is as wide as possible and I will go on making the point that obstetric-led maternity services in Winchester are an essential part of what makes a modern-day District General Hospital. You can follow progress and find a link to the Trust survey on future services at www.stevebrine.com/prioritynhs
Secondly, constituents will be pleased to know I am not letting up on South Western Railway after a truly terrible 12-months. I have recently been elected Vice Chairman of the new All-Party Parliamentary Group on SWR which will work to hold the company to account for its poor service and take up passenger issues not being adequately addressed.
One such issue was an insufficient compensation package for my constituents affected by the strikes in December. To be fair, SWR didn’t choose this wholly unnecessary industrial dispute – and they carried over 80% of the number of passengers they normally would at that time of year – but given we’ve paid the fare and the company receives compensation from Government, they had to go further. I raised this last week with the Acting MD of SWR at a Q&A session with fellow MPs and am pleased they are now offering additional compensation over and above the normal delay repay arrangements. See www.stevebrine.com/trains
Finally, we should all welcome a move which means every new mum will be able to get full postnatal check-up after having a baby. NHS England announced last week that, as part of the new agreed GP contract, all practices will get funding so that mothers get a dedicated six-week postnatal check-up to discuss their health with a GP or healthcare practitioner. Up until now only the baby check has been funded.
I worked closely with NCT - the UK’s largest parenting charity who have a very active and effective branch working for us across the Winchester District – to achieve this outcome and first mooted the idea when I was a Health Minister in the last Government so it was very much unfinished business I am pleased get over the line at last. Thank you to all local campaigners, including the BABIES breastfeeding support heroes based at Lanterns, for their support.
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Steve Brine MP
