8:00pm Wednesday 10th March 2010
By Warwick Payne
HEALTH chiefs in Winchester are holding talks with another branch of the NHS with a view to working closer together.
They are speaking to Hampshire Community Health Care, which provides many non-acute hospital services.
These might include campaigns promoting good health along with GPs’ surgeries and other local clinics.
They differ from the services offered by Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester.
Its workload includes accident and emergency cases and also dealing with major surgery and life-threatening illnesses.
Hospital bosses in Winchester are now holding talks with HCHC to see if the two branches can work closer together.
Trust board members in Winchester heard on Wednesday, March 3, that one benefit might be to reduce the strain on their hospital.
If more patients receive services – such as falls clinics – closer to home, then it would also reduce long journeys to the main hospital.
HCHC is due to decide on Wednesday, March 31, if it wants to have an official link with the Winchester trust.
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