I am pleased to have launched a new group to discuss local health issues and push forward my campaign for increased facilities at Fareham Community Hospital.
Launching Fareham Community Hospital Taskforce, senior executives from local health authorities, patient groups and local representatives came together to discuss health needs and collaboration. Amongst the organisations represented were Fareham and Gosport Clinical Commissioning Group, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, University Hospital NHS Trust, Solent NHS Trust, NHS Property Services, and the Friends of Fareham Community Hospital.
The group met to discuss current health needs in Fareham, including GP services, the role of the voluntary sector, and how to increase community bed capacity to ease patient flow at Queen Alexandra Hospital. Also on the agenda was current usage of Fareham Community Hospital, and plans for its future. Many constituents have told me of their need for more services at the hospital and so I raised the issue with the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who has pledged to visit in the New Year to see the hospital for himself.
I convened the high-level summit, which took place at the Community Hospital, to bring together all the relevant local health organisations, after being concerned that the complexity of management structures was hampering progress. Improving health services locally is has been one of my main priorities since I was elected, and it matters greatly to many people. It’s a very complex subject, with lots of organisations having overlapping responsibilities, so I wanted to cut through the bureaucracy and get all the relevant people together in one room for this summit.
It was a very useful discussion, and we were able to discuss a lot of the key challenges locally, such as reform of GP services, the pressure on QA, and my personal priority, increasing services at Fareham Community Hospital.
This won’t be a one-off, however, and I think it is vital that we keep the dialogue going, particularly on the hospital issue. Fareham Community Hospital Taskforce will meet regularly to review progress and ensure we are all in tune with what each organisation is doing. I am hopeful this approach will yield results, and look forward to welcoming the Health Secretary to discuss developments in the New Year.
Fareham Community Hospital opened in May 2010 and the 2,700sq ft hospital provides services such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, MRI, abdominal aortic aneurism Screening, phlebotomy booking service and blood testing and a Dementia Support Group. In addition, Brook Lane GP Surgery hold occasional clinics within the hospital.
