There has been a delay to holding a public consultation on building a new hospital for Basingstoke.
As previously reported, two locations have been shortlisted as possible sites for a new hospital after the government confirmed funding for this last year.
A consultation was due to take place this month, allowing the public to have their say on the two sites: the first at Junction 7 of the M3 and the other on the current site of Basingstoke hospital, in Aldermaston Road.
However, a report to Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) Council of Governors states that there has been a delay to the programme.
It said: “The national new hospitals programme has asked that none of the new hospital programmes go to public consultation at this stage, until the national programme has determined what the phasing of the new builds should be.
“We are ready to move to public consultation and the materials and preparation will be put to good use, when we get the go-ahead to proceed.”
It added that in the meantime additional work can be done on the ‘pre-consultation business case’ to “further strengthen the case and provide more detail on the clinical and workforce models”.
The report also pointed out that the clinicians who would have been involved in the consultation can “focus on providing care for our patients” following “the surge in Covid cases”.
The new hospital will be one of 40 to be built across the county by 2030.
Article originally appeared on Basingstoke gazette
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