The £900 million hospital planned for Hampshire will not begin construction until at least 2037, and possibly as late as 2039. This delay pushes the project to the "third wave" of hospital renovations, making it one of the last to be completed. The hospital is slated to be built near Basingstoke, close to the M3, and will lead to the downgrading of Winchester’s A&E department.

Winchester MP Danny Chambers, speaking in parliament on January 20, expressed frustration, saying, “In Hampshire and around the rest of the country, in 2019 and 2024, Conservative MPs stood on the promise of delivering new hospitals, including one for Hampshire, and it turned out there was never any funding and it was just false promises to try and get votes.”

Chambers continued, “Now, with the announcement that the construction of a proposed new hospital in Hampshire won’t even be started until between 2037 and 2039, we absolutely need to ensure that the current services are invested in and improved so that they remain fit for purpose.”

He also highlighted the urgent need for better social care to alleviate the pressure on hospitals, adding, “This means it is more urgent than ever to increase capacity by fixing social care.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting responded, acknowledging the disappointment: “I know patients in some parts of the country will be disappointed by this new timetable. They are right to be.”

Streeting then criticized the previous Conservative administration: “They were led up the garden path by three Conservative prime ministers, all promising hospitals with no credible plan for funding to deliver them."

He assured the public, saying, “We will not treat the British people with the same contempt, we will never play fast and loose with the public’s trust. The plan we have laid out today is honest, funded and can actually be delivered.”

Streeting concluded by emphasizing the Labour Government’s commitment: “It is part of the biggest capital investment the NHS has seen since Labour was last in office… We are determined to rebuild our NHS and rebuild trust in politics.”