Lord Nick Markham, parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, visited Basingstoke hospital on the campaign trail with Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for the town, Maria Miller, ahead of the upcoming general election. He told the that a new site is "ready to go" providing the public consultation comes out the way he thinks it will. The minister, who is responsible for the and hospital upgrades, spoke to the Gazette about the progress of the new hospital, originally promised to be built in the town by 2030, but since delayed.
HHFT has been told it will receive between £700m and £900m to build a new hospital. However, NHP programme leaders in the government are yet to approve the national business case, meaning funding allocations from 2025 and 2026 onwards have not yet been approved. The Gazette asked Lord Markham when the funding for Cohort 4 hospitals, including Basingstoke, will be confirmed.
He said: "The funding is in place. We've earmarked the money already, so it's there. You then have to go through tender processes until you get the exact amount but it is earmarked to be in place.
" Asked whether he is sorry that a new hospital will not be built by 2030, as promised, he said: "No, on all these things we have to try and prioritise. The thing that no one expected were these RAAC (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete) hospitals which were suddenly found that if they weren't rebuilt by 2030 they had to be closed down because they.