The Basingstoke Gazette calls on the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, to:

1. Honour the government's promises by prioritising the construction of the new Basingstoke hospital, deemed urgent.
2. Share a definitive timeline for the construction, bringing an end to the uncertainty around this. 
3. Secure and dedicate appropriate funding for the construction of the new hospital. 

Please support our plea for action. Sign our petition, share it with family and friends, and help ensure our long-awaited, much-needed new hospital is finally built.

Basingstoke needs a new hospital. The team behind plans to build a new hospital for the town has already laid bare the difficulties our local NHS is facing working in old and crumbling buildings, including operations cancelled at short notice, increasing waiting lists, national standards not being met, and an impact on the quality of care for patients. Hardworking hospital staff and residents deserve better.

More than five years ago, Basingstoke residents were promised a new hospital. It is long overdue and now it is time for our new government to make a firm commitment to honour those promises to our town and build our hospital.

 The Labour government has admitted that the New Hospital Programme (NHP) it inherited from the Conservative government is ‘unrealistic and unaffordable’, with funding due to run out in March this year.

There is a real risk that some hospitals in the NHP may never be built, or see projects scaled back. Let’s not let Basingstoke become one of them.

Hampshire Together, the team behind plans for a new hospital for Basingstoke, has already put in the groundwork needed to get our new hospital built, including running a costly and lengthy consultation with residents. Money spent on this will be wasted if the project never comes to fruition, along with the millions of pounds being spent on maintenance every year.

As the town’s local paper, the team at the Basingstoke Gazette is championing this important matter by taking action on an issue we know people who live here feel very strongly about.  

By launching a petition we’re giving the people of Basingstoke the chance to have their collective voice heard loud and clear that they will not back down until a new hospital in Basingstoke is built.