Surbiton Hospital

The long term future for Surbiton Hospital looks a lot brighter this week, as the Board of Kingston’s NHS Primary Care Trust (PCT) agreed to a major work programme to finalise options for public consultation later this year.

Given that the Board has now set aside £500,000 to turn the Surbiton Hospital feasibility study published last December into concrete proposals, we can now be confident of their commitment to this longstanding demand of our community.

Having worked with many residents over the years, both on previous ideas for the development of Surbiton and on the successful campaign to prevent its total closure, this is great news. If we can achieve a major modernisation of Surbiton’s key health asset over the next few years, it will be fantastic.

You can read the full Surbiton Hospital feasibility study on Kingston PCT’s website, but the “core” proposal suggests a redevelopment might include a 12 hour a day, 7 day a week walk-in GP clinic, outpatient clinics currently held at Kingston Hospital, new diagnostic services, from x-rays to ECG and MRI scans, as well as community services, therapies and minor surgery.

Given there has been a history of indecision and delay over Surbiton Hospital’s future, it’s important not to get carried away. There’s a huge amount of work to do this year, and many things could still go wrong. Yet I’m more optimistic now that we will see a major boost to local health services at Surbiton than I have ever been.