THE NHS says it wants residents to help shape the services and facilities for the planned new health campus in Whitehill and Bordon.

It is urging people with an interest in health to join two workshops in the town in December.

A health campus is to be a key part of the new town-centre redevelopment.

Lisa Medway - estates project manager for the NHS South Eastern Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group, which plans and buys most local health services for the area - said: “The health campus will see health and care services coming together in a central location in the new town.

“It represents a very exciting opportunity for the community and for us as a health service to provide quality services that are needed and wanted in a dynamic purpose-built facility.

“We are now starting to plan the health campus but we don’t want to do this on our own. We would like to do this in partnership with the community to continue to build on our engagement work in recent years.

“People have already told us over the years that they want: care that is joined up with services working together; care provided closer to home where possible, and NHS services to work far more closely with partners including social care and the voluntary sector.

“We now hope to bring together a group of local people, health and social care professionals and voluntary and community organisations.

“We intend to hold two half-day workshops at which the group will discuss what kind of health and social-care services people want and where they need to be (session one); and look at the buildings needed to run these services both from when the campus is built and in the future (session two).”

Ingrid Thomas, East Hampshire District Council’s portfolio holder for welfare, said: “Come along and get involved in making the health campus work for you.

“It’s so important that this fabulous new facility meets your needs and the needs of your community and the best way of ensuring that is by getting out and joining in. The more closely we work together, the more successful this ambitious and exciting project will be.”

Hampshire County Councillor Adam Carew, who is also a town and district councillor, has highlighted the importance of improving healthcare provision in the town.

“The new health campus is an exciting prospect and will be an opportunity to benefit from some of the latest developments in medical technology as a one of Government’s Healthy New Towns,” he said. “There has always been a problem with encouraging consultants to come to Whitehill and Bordon, not least as more and more services have been restricted to acute hospitals in recent years. The new health campus provides an opportunity to change all that.

“A few years ago I insisted the NHS conduct a health-needs assessment of our town and its immediate surrounding area so we had a reliable evidence base to determine and commission new health services. This was followed by extensive consultation. The result was the Chase Charter - a list of services we wished to see at Chase Hospital: everything from diabetic screening, healthy eating, eating-disorders support, leg ulcers, podiatry, breast screening, phlebotomy (bloods), eye screening to family planning and contraceptive advice. It is essential that everything on that list is provided in our new health campus, and this must include a care home so the NHS can rent hospital beds they wrongly took away at Chase Hospital and a minor-injuries service. Our town is crying out for improved healthcare and, as we double in size over the next 20 to 30 years, it is essential that we get the medical services to come with it.”

* The workshops will be on the morning of Tuesday, December 6, and afternoon of Tuesday, December 13. Ideally, organisers would like anyone interested to attend both sessions. To find out more, contact Elizabeth Kerwood on 023 9221 2410 or email [email protected].