BORDON residents have been reassured that their community hospital is safe despite radical changes to the NHS in the area. Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which provides hospital care to around 300,000 patients, including those from Bordon and Alton, has been invited to apply for foundation trust status by the Department of Health. If the application is successful the NHS trust could become a foundation hospital in autumn this year. North Hampshire Trust chief executive Mary Edwards told Bordon residents at last Wednesday's Whitehill Town Council annual meeting they were keen to "find a way of talking to the community". She said the shift to a foundation hospital would mean "people would get services provided more locally". She added that foundation trusts would be a new type of organisation, which would be more accountable to the community it served, and said that, currently, patients were having to wait for up to six months to be seen at hospital and the new aim was to reduce waiting times to a period of 18 weeks. Mrs Edwards said one of the major benefits of a foundation trust was that it was owned by local membership which could steer its direction in a similar way to a mutual building society. She said: "It's non-profit making. It's about saying the community will determine what their service is and how we do it." Mrs Edwards went on to say the change would mean a greater level of financial freedom, which included giving the trust to the ability to retain financial surpluses and raise funds to invest in local services. Mrs Edwards also argued the change would provide a "secure financial status" and the changes were all "about delivering services to the whole community". She said: "It's really difficult for us to know how we can talk to the public. But we are actively finding a way of talking to the local community." Mrs Edwards went on to assure residents that the future of Chase Hospital in Conde Way was secure and she went on to say that she hoped the services could be improved in the next five years. She said the current policy was to have a number of units to treat small accidents and minor injuries in smaller, town locations. A concerned Bordon resident told Mrs Edwards she had been forced to wait 18 months to get a hearing aid. Mrs Edwards admitted that this was not good enough, but that, under the current system, hearing aids were not a form of care which was subject to a government target. Bordon residents and Bordon and Whitehill mayor Faith Thomas complained about the lack of transport to other hospitals, including Alton and Basingstoke. Concern was also expressed that the diagnostic unit at Chase Hospital was only run by one nurse, who was on flexitime and when she was away the unit was simply "standing idle". Mrs Edwards replied that another nurse had now benn employed in order to get more use from the services. Don Mayes expressed his concerns over the parking difficulties at Basingstoke Hospital for even a short appointment. Mrs Edwards said the hospital car parks were run by a private company and that the reality was that many hospitals had been encouraged to use the revenue from car parking to put back into the hospital. If the application is successful, North Hampshire Hospital will also be run in a new way, by a combination of the work of a membership community, a council of governors and a board of directors. The membership community will be made up of patients, members of the public, staff and stakeholders, and the council of governors will be made up of 14 public governors, four staff governors, three patient champion governors and six stakeholder organisation governors. The stakeholders represent local interest groups such primary care trusts, East Hampshire District Council and Hampshire County Council, and voluntary groups. But the day-to-day running of the trust will still be dealt with by the board of directors, which will be made up of non-executive and executive directors. The board itself will be regulated by MONITOR, the independent regulator for foundation trusts. Membership to the new trust would be free and open to anyone over the age of 14 who has been a patient or carer, lives within the catchment area or works at North Hampshire Hospital. The trust will still be part of the National Health Service family and subject to all the NHS principles and quality standards, although with greater freedom from government control. The statutory consultation period on the changes will terminate this month, and Bordon residents are being encouraged to have a say in the future running of the NHS trust. Anyone wishing to comment on the changes should call 01256 313601 or email to [email protected]">[email protected]
