Money more Important than Patients to Local Health Trust

11.59.06am GMT Wed 17th Jan 2007

Sandra Gidley MP has written to Hampshire Primary Care Trust asking for clarification of the decision to sell land to the rear of Romsey Hospital. This decision was made at the board meeting held on the 13th December.

The minutes mention "potentially surplus land" to the rear of Romsey Hospital. The minutes blandly state that the land is "believed to be surplus to PCT future needs" and mentions that the land had previously been considered and rejected for primary care purposes and that there is not anticipated use. The report goes on to declare the land surplus to requirements.

My understanding is that local planners and local medical experts say that if there is an access created at Chirk Lodge, financed by the development, then the site would be suitable for Primary Care development, However the new Hampshire PCT doesn't seem to care about developing Primary Care services on the site which does not inspire confidence in their interest in our hospital's long term future

Sandra Gidley said, "This is not good news as it severely limits the potential for future growth of the hospital. The paper appears to ignore the fact that the modern NHS is changing rapidly and there has been a distinct policy shift since earlier decisions were made. If the Government talk of developing community services is to be believed then we should be looking afresh at our local community hospital to see what more it can provide. This is particularly relevant now that Practice Based Commissioning means that our local GPs have more say in how they commission services. The local GPs have always been highly supportive of our local hospital and, with the short sighted decision to sell off the family silver, the potential for service development has been eliminated.

The PCT board have neglected their duty to look at this issue from a fresh and newly informed perspective and seem hell bent on achieving short term financial targets whilst neglecting to have a long term vision for health services in our community

ENDS