THE chairman of Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said she was “disappointed” after plans for a new £150million hospital near Basingstoke were thrown into serious doubt.

West Hampshire and North Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Groups, which pays trusts including HHFT to provide health services, sent a letter to stakeholders saying it could not support a formal public consultation at the current stage.

The proposal, for land north of the M3’s junction 7, would offer 24-hour consultant care and include an £18.5m cancer treatment unit to centralise chemotherapy.

Most services at Basingstoke hospital and hospitals in Winchester and Andover would stay put, the trust has said.

The letter sent to stakeholders on Wednesday said the conclusion, which will be put forward for approval to both CCG boards next week, was that "this proposal cannot go forward to formal consultation at present.

"The primary reason for this is that the predicted costs of services supplied in this way significantly exceed the funds available to commissioners."

In addition, the letter said the groups are recommending a “whole system program to re-design health and social care across north and mid Hampshire. It will be clinically led and will encompass acute, community, mental health, primary and social care.”

But speaking at a board of directors meeting held this afternoon at Basingstoke hospital, HHFT chairman Elizabeth Padmore said she was “disappointed” with the decision by the CCGs and said the critical care model had proven success in Northumbria.

She said: “Now it is up and running and working better than they thought it would and it has exceeded expectations in delivering the right kind of care for people with life threatening injuries”.

She added: “It is not helpful in terms of money with delays like this as the costs are going up. It was truly disappointing to be passed the letter by a third party. But, we will carry on fighting a good fight.

“Colleagues, I don’t really need to remind you the Critical Treatment Hospital is only for life-threatening emergencies but will provide 24-hour consultant-led care which is what the Secretary of State and Prime Minister is asking us to do.

"It also fits perfectly in Simon Stevens’ (chief executive of NHS England) forward view as well as the state-of-the-art cancer centre which patients and the public in north Hampshire are desperate for and supported wholesomely by the charitable donations already.”

The trust will continue to work with the CCG groups and a decision on the planning application for the site is expected from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council on October 7.