MULTI-million-pound plans to revolutionise healthcare in north and mid Hampshire have taken a step forward.

A new hospital has become the centrepiece of the biggest modernisation programme of services in the area in 50 years.

Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Basingstoke, Andover and Winchester hospitals, has long struggled with its ageing estate, stating that £73 million would be needed to bring the sites up to required standards.

And in order to keep the buildings functioning for the next 30 years would require over £700m in maintenance over that time.

But now hospital chiefs have revealed plans to build a health campus with the new hospital as a “centre of excellence” at its heart. It could see the likes of partners in mental health, primary health, social care more accommodated on the site.

However, a location for the new hospital has yet to be decided, and this week the trust launched a programme ‘Hampshire Together: Modernising our Hospitals and Health Services’ to help bring its plans to fruition.

Chief medical officer Dr Lara Alloway, pictured, speaking on a podcast introducing the programme, said: “This is about our healthcare services but it is also about hospital building because actually there are always some things that need to be in a hospital and currently our hospital buildings that we love in Basingstoke, Winchester and Andover, particularly in Basingstoke, are actually not fit for purpose anymore.”

She added: “We will be building a hospital and we don’t know exactly where. Currently we are looking at various different options for that, but for some of what is also important is all the other services that will need to be around the hospital or actually nearer to where people live.

“The hospital will need to be near where people live but ultimately it will be where we find a piece of land big enough.”

Dr Alloway speculated that the hospital could cost around £700 million.

In September last year the Government announced that Hampshire’s NHS would receive funding to put a fresh business case together for a new hospital.

Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was awarded a share of £100 million for new projects as part of the national Health Infrastructure Plan. This funding will develop a business case for a new hospital, to be delivered between 2026-30, with the aim of work starting in 2024/25.

The public, staff and stakeholders are being asked their views on where the new hospital should be built and wider views on the plans.

To find out more go to either www.hampshiretogether.nhs.uk or www.hampshirehospitals.nhs.uk