Residents packed an Odiham school to the rafters in a show of support for their threatened cottage hospital.
The meeting, at Mayhill Junior School on Thursday last week, was held to give people a chance to quiz health chiefs about their plans for local care.
NHS Hampshire is half way through a six-week consultation on the future of 108-year-old Odiham Cottage Hospital, which was dealt a blow in November when nursing provider Hampshire Community Health Care said it would not renew its nursing contract in April.
The move would force the hospital to close.
The meeting was attended by more than 280 people, including Hart District Council leader Ken Crookes and North Hampshire MP James Arbuthnot.
NHS Hampshire’s chief executive, Debbie Fleming, tried to calm people’s fears, saying: “We have not come out here to have a bust-up, but we have come here to listen and a gain a larger understanding about the changes we are forced to make within the NHS .”
And he told residents: “We do realise how important the hospital is to you and make sure the high quality service provided continues.”
Nick MacAndrew, who chaired the meeting, stressed that the service was important to residents of Odiham, Hartley Wintney, Hook and Old Basing.
He said: “It would be a crying shame if a full and proper role could not be found for it in the future.
“It should be kept not for sentimental reasons but because it can, and should, play a substantial part of the care available in this area.”
The hospital is owned by the Odiham Cottage Hospital Charitable Trust, but is run through the NHS.
It has 12 beds and 25 part-time nurses provided by Hampshire Community Health Care.
But the organisation notched up a £90,000 overspend on providing care for 93 patients at the hospital last year
Proposals for its future include turning it into a social care facility or using it as a re-enablement facility for people who are too sick to go home but not ill enough to justify a full hospital bed.
Residents were asked to complete a survey on the hospital’s future and return it before March 25.
For further information, visit www.hampshire.nhs.uk
