{"id":728793,"date":"2026-08-06T00:14:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/728793\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T00:14:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:14:17","slug":"new-basingstoke-hospital-one-part-of-healthcare-fix-mp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/728793\/","title":{"rendered":"New Basingstoke hospital ‘one part’ of healthcare fix – MP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Luke Murphy<\/a> says he will keep pushing for a new hospital but warns the previous government\u2019s \u201cnever realistic\u201d pledge left it delayed and only \u201cone part\u201d of fixing local healthcare.\n<\/p>\n

\n He was answering a nurse who works across three hospitals at a recent #StrongerTogetherForum at The Anvil<\/a>, who asked why the promised hospital was delayed and what else could be done.\n<\/p>\n

\n Basingstoke\u2019s hospital was promised under the previous government\u2019s 40 hospitals scheme, but ministers said in January 2025 that building would not start until between 2037 and 2039 and would cost about \u00a32bn under Hampshire\u2019s Wave 3 New Hospital Programme allocation, while Hampshire Hospitals has since secured funding to buy land near Junction 7 of the M3<\/a> to keep site options open.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"LukeLuke Murphy outside Basingstoke Hospital\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Murphy said the previous government\u2019s pledge to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030<\/a> was never credible.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe previous government\u2019s commitment to 40 new hospitals by 2030 \u2013 I think it\u2019s been shown that it was never a realistic promise,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was unfunded, without the resources or a plan to deliver it, and the government took the decision to reorder it onto a realistic trajectory.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n He said he had helped secure the purchase of land to keep the M3 junction site available<\/a> and would keep pressing ministers.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI will push as hard as I can to get that hospital,\u201d he said. \u201cPatients and staff deserve it. But I\u2019m not going to sit here and say we can definitely bring it forward, because that promise made by the previous government was never realistic. If we can find the money and the resources going forward, then I absolutely will.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Murphy said a new building alone would not ease pressure on the hospital, blaming poor GP access for driving patients to A&E.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cToo many people either store up issues because they can\u2019t see a GP, or they\u2019re frustrated because they can\u2019t get an appointment, so they go straight to A&E,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s totally understandable \u2013 it\u2019s not their fault. That\u2019s a system that\u2019s broken and needs fixing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n He linked this to the government\u2019s social care reform plans, saying better GP access and social care investment would ease pressure on hospital wards.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe help the hospital by fixing GP services, and we help the hospital by fixing social care,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll continue to fight for the hospital, but it\u2019s only one part of the picture, and there are other things we can do to improve people\u2019s access to healthcare.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n A 2024 consultation found that 52 per cent of residents favoured a specialist acute hospital at Junction 7<\/a> rather than the current hospital site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luke Murphy says he will keep pushing for a new hospital but warns the previous government\u2019s \u201cnever realistic\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-728793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}