Frimley New Hospital: What We Heard from Local Communities

Healthwatch Hampshire
Nov 12
2 min read

Frimley Park Hospital is seeking a location to develop a new hospital and anticipates relocating to a different site. The Frimley New Hospital Programme will be looking to engage with the local community about proposals for the hospital. Before this engagement work happens, they asked local Healthwatch teams to speak with community groups who work with people often face barriers to health and care. The aim was to understand how to make future engagement accessible, respectful and meaningful.

The report has been compiled from in-depth conversations completed by Healthwatch Bracknell Forest, Healthwatch Hampshire, Healthwatch Surrey and Healthwatch Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead (WAM).

Key themes from the conversations

Cover the cost of involvement

Travel, parking and support needs can stop people taking part. Costs should be reimbursed quickly, and organisations involved in supporting engagement need proper funding.

Plan for access needs

Every session must consider interpreters, captions, BSL, visual materials and other adjustments.

Make involvement meaningful

People want to see that their time leads to real action. Clear feedback after each stage builds trust and encourages future participation.

Work through trusted community leaders

Groups respond best when approached by people and organisations they already know.

Give plenty of notice

Many community sessions and support arrangements must be booked well in advance. At least two weeks’ notice is often the minimum.

Use mixed methods

Not everyone is online or confident with English. Engagement needs simple language, face-to-face options and multiple formats.

Moving forward

These insights will shape the next stage of the engagement process, helping to make it more affective and inclusive when capturing local people’s views.

To find out more, you can read the full report in the PDF below.