Working together, Wantage Town Council, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and the local NHS, Oxfordshire County Council, and Vale of White Horse District Council, have agreed an investment programme that will see nearly £1 m being used to refurbish Wantage Community Hospital’s ground floor so that it can accommodate more clinic-based services across physical healthcare and mental health.
The majority of the funding, which comes from the District Council’s Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Fund, followed extensive liaison over the last nine months. This saw the initial estimate of £600,000 increased to nearer to £900,000 to reflect the needs identified by the local community to move care closer to home and co-locate more mental health and physical healthcare services at the hospital.
Outpatient services at the hospital, piloted over the last two years, can continue, and the local NHS remains committed to identifying and expanding service provision from the refurbished space. Additional services will be able to commence their clinics once building works are completed later in 2025.
The project will also benefit from a significant legacy left to the Oxford Health Charity specifically for investment in Wantage Community Hospital – which will be used to enhance patient, carer, and family access and experience to the newly refurbished spaces.
Dan Leveson, director for Places and Communities at the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire West ICB, said: “The partnership work undertaken over the last couple of years between the NHS, local government, the community, and its leaders, is a great example of how the needs of local people can be understood when it comes to more routine care being provided closer to where they live. The changes happening at Wantage will also help meet national ambitions around people getting treated more quickly.”
Councillor Jane Hanna, a county councillor for Wantage and Grove, who chairs Oxfordshire County Council’s Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, said: “I am delighted at the progress that has been made to date, and the funding that has been allocated for investment in our local community hospital. A public meeting is scheduled for late February, which is when more detail will be provided on the design and anticipated timelines for work to start on refurbishing the hospital’s ground floor, along with the likely services that will be coming to use the space.”
Dr Ben Riley, Oxford Health’s COO for Community Health Services, Dentistry, and Primary Care, said: “This investment for Wantage Community Hospital will help us to make real our vision for more local healthcare provision in the community. I am very grateful to everyone who has been involved in making this project possible. Working in partnership with our health and care partners and the local community to make the case for the funding has been hugely important, as it has directly shaped the building designs, and the discussions about the services that will come to the refurbished hospital in the future.”