AN A&E in Andover is “desperately needed” claims an Enham woman who is concerned travelling to out-of-town hospitals and overstretched services could lead to more fatalities.

Clare Hannaby has spoken out after her niece’s experience on 15 April when no out-of-hours doctor was available at Andover War Memorial Hospital and she was told to go to A&E in Winchester, which Clare said has happened on several other occasions and is “just not good enough”.

Currently Andover’s hospital in Charlton Road has a nurse-led minor injuries unit, but if patients need to be seen by a doctor they are directed to Winchester or Basingstoke hospitals.

Ms Hannaby said: “Andover needs an A&E department desperately. They shouldn’t be allowed to be putting up all this housing without new facilities.

“There is not a clear message for the opening times, or who to call, where to go, who will see you, it seems to be all over the place it is very confusing.

“There is going to be fatalities if there haven’t been already, it is just not good enough.”

In an emergency, patients from Andover are taken to hospitals in Winchester, Salisbury, Basingstoke or Southampton which vary from 16 to 29 miles away.

Figures obtained by The Advertiser through a Freedom of Information request found the average ambulance response time to residents living in an SP10 postcode is around 26 minutes, and 31 minutes for patients in SP11.

Across other postcodes from the Basingstoke and Winchester districts, the best response time was for central Basingstoke RG21 at 21 minutes.

The average response across Andover, Basingstoke and Winchester was around 25 and a half minutes.

While concerns are raised about travel time, traffic, congestion and road accidents could delay life-saving treatment for people in Andover, South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) which serves the area said patients are in “good hands.”

SCAS assistant director of operations Paul Jefferies said: “If patients have to travel further by road to such major trauma centres, our ambulance staff – along with pre-hospital emergency doctors and air ambulance paramedic colleagues from the Hampshire and Thames Valley Air Ambulances – are extensively trained to deliver life-saving interventions at the scene of an emergency and en route to hospital by road.

“A study by the Trauma Audit and Research Network released in July 2015 showed that trauma patients were 63 per cent more likely to survive than they were in 2008.

“I would like to think that this data can reassure the residents of Andover and the surrounding areas that when it comes to what really matters – giving them the best chance of survival in a life-threatening emergency – that are in good hands locally.”

West Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which funds and commissions health services in the area, said it is increasing availability of local healthcare with evening and weekend GP and nurse appointments in Andover being part of this.

The group’s chief officer Heather Hauschild said: “We are now looking at options to develop urgent care services in local communities, which would treat people who need rapid access to care but do not have emergency or life-threatening conditions.

“Emergency departments are based within large general hospitals because they need to be close to specialist services, such as intensive care or trauma teams.

“Healthcare advice is available 24 hours a day from NHS 111, NHS Choices or e-Consult, which is used by many GP practices.”