Our Hospital is one of the things that makes Basingstoke a great place to live. We have some of the best medical staff in the world. Over the past two years these medical practitioners have been working on a new scheme to take the NHS money that we have and make it work even harder for Basingstoke and North Hampshire by separating out treatment for the sickest 15% of patients, those who arrive at hospital in the back of an ambulance, into a new Critical Care Unit. Detailed financial analysis shows this new unit would save money and sit along side a new state of the art cancer treatment centre.
After two years of detailed development the management in NHS England is now blocking these plans. New senior management are now demanding a new consultation and even more options to be examined – just as the Critical Care Unit plan is granted final planning permission by the Borough Council. To delay now would be astonishing and would mean NHS money being wasted on more bureaucracy rather than where we need it, delivering patient care.
What is equally astonishing is that NHS England has been working with our hospital, hand in glove, for the past two years throughout the development of these detailed plans.
A Critical Care Unit is the sort of ground breaking idea that our NHS so badly needs to meet the growing pressures on the NHS. It would be the second one in the country and has the full support of the Ambulance Service which has been pivotal in determining the right location for the new Unit to the west of the town next to Junction 7.
At a time when North Hampshire is being asked to take many thousands of new homes it is unacceptable for NHS England to block this vital new facility. Many thousands of pounds of tax payers money has been spent developing these plans with NHS England. If concerns exist why were they not voiced two years ago? Why has NHS England not developed alternative plans?
It's easy for the NHS management to delay decisions. But it's our community that ends up paying the price. I have backed our Hospital's proposals from the start and will continue to do so. We cannot allow bureaucrats to block innovation, new facilities that save money and could literally save lives. I am meeting NHS England this week to demand urgent action.