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'Bright future' for community hospital
By Stephen LloydJanuary 30, 2012
A ONCE threatened community hospital has been given a clean bill of health.
Odiham Cottage Hospital now has a healthy future thanks to behind-the-scenes work by trustees and Calleva, the Basingstoke-based GP consortium that includes doctors from Odiham, Hook and Hartley Wintney.
Following discussions and planning sessions that started last summer, trustees have now decided to use the hospital for a number of health schemes.
From the end of this month, part of the building will accommodate a newly-created health and social care integrated team made up of doctors, nurses and community health and social care specialists.
The hospital will also be used as the base for specialist clinics such as tissue viability and continence clinics with others such as IV therapies being introduced later in the year.
Trustees said they were also delighted to announce that Rosefield Day Centre will relocate to the cottage hospital from next month.
The service offers social contact to the isolated elderly and respite care for those with substantial needs and says a move to the Odiham site will offer enhanced facilities for the client base and the opportunity to expand services.
The hospital has also forged a new relationship with St Michael’s Hospice in Basingstoke, who will be looking to offer bereavement counselling and complementary therapy sessions from the site.
Hugh Freeman, leader of the Calleva Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “When Odiham Cottage Hospital closed its doors in the summer, its future was by no means certain.
“It has been a real pleasure for Calleva to work with a dedicated local community who have been determined to ensure the hospital re-opened in one form or another.
“I am personally really pleased we have found a solution that suits most people in the area. Odiham Cottage Hospital has a much brighter future than it seemed to have six months ago.”
Daphne Jamieson, chairman of the Odiham Cottage Hospital trustees, added: “We have been determined to see the building used for health services.
“Our preference was always that it remain a small hospital with in-patient beds, but we now know that it can still have a secure future, providing specialist clinics and day services, along with the base for a much more integrated team.
A spokesman for NHS Hampshire said the board considered a request from Hampshire County Council and Hart District Council to extend the contract for nursing care, but felt it would result in continued risks to patient safety.
The spokesman added: “To ensure local people continue to have access to care locally, the board agreed to extend and improve the services available to people through an increase in therapy-based care in relevant nursing homes; more care in people’s own homes, including community nursing and therapy services; and access to community hospital beds within eight miles, in Fleet and Alton.”
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