SAVECHASEHOSPITAL
Bordon, Hampshire — Serving our community since 1991. Now facing closure through deliberate, incremental managed decline.
A town set to grow to 30,000 people is being left with fewer local healthcare facilities than it had a decade ago. This is not acceptable. This is not inevitable. This must change.
A Hospital Built to Serve.
Being Dismantled to Close.
Chase Community Hospital opened in 1991 — a deliberate NHS investment to bring healthcare to a population historically underserved by major acute hospitals. Basingstoke, Winchester, and Guildford are each a considerable distance away. For residents without cars, for the elderly, the disabled, and carers, the Chase was not simply convenient. It was the difference between care and no care.
For over thirty years it delivered a genuinely comprehensive range of community healthcare — right here in Bordon. Then, service by service, it was quietly dismantled.
What has happened to Chase Hospital is not the result of clinical necessity, patient demand, or financial inevitability. It is the result of a deliberate, incremental, and unjust policy of managed decline.
What Chase Once Provided
“Evidence emerges that GPs in surrounding areas were not being told to refer patients to the Chase — meaning low attendance figures reflected broken referral pathways, not genuine lack of demand.”
— Campaign documentation, 2020
A Town That Is Growing.
Healthcare That Is Shrinking.
When the MoD announced the departure of the REME Bordon Garrison in 2013, the town was designated an Eco Town. Population projections — consistently revised upward — now anticipate Whitehill & Bordon growing from approximately 14,000 to between 22,000 and 30,000 residents.
Bordon is set to become the largest population centre in East Hampshire. Any rational healthcare planning should have resulted in investment and expansion of local services. Instead, we have witnessed the systematic dismantling of the only community hospital the town has ever had.
A Timeline of Managed Decline
This did not happen overnight. It was a deliberate, incremental process — each step designed to make closure seem inevitable.
Chase Community Hospital Opens
A purpose-built NHS facility opens in Bordon — a deliberate investment to bring comprehensive healthcare to an historically underserved population. The single-storey design makes it fully accessible for elderly and disabled patients.
Quiet Dismantling Begins
Services begin to disappear one by one — midwifery, outpatient clinics, diagnostic services. Crucially, evidence later emerges that GPs were not being directed to refer patients to the Chase, artificially suppressing attendance figures.
MoD Garrison Departs — Eco Town Designated
The REME Bordon Garrison closes. The town is designated an Eco Town with housing growth projections of up to 30,000 residents. Healthcare planning should have expanded — instead, contraction accelerated.
Hospital Reduced to 25% Capacity
Chase Hospital is operating at a fraction of its original scope. The building that once served a full community hospital function now sits largely empty — a physical monument to systematic under-investment.
Hub Proposal Emerges
NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight CCG proposes replacing the hospital with a 'community health hub'. Campaign groups and residents immediately raise serious concerns about what would actually be lost.
Consultation Failures & Public Outcry
Consultation processes are criticised as inadequate and predetermined. A parliamentary petition gains thousands of signatures. Local MP raises the issue in the House of Commons. NHS England is formally contacted.
Resistance Grows
Community campaign intensifies. Residents, patient groups, and healthcare professionals unite to document the human cost of managed decline and formally demand a reversal of policy.
The Fight for Chase Hospital Continues
The community refuses to accept that a growing town of 30,000 should lose its only community hospital. The campaign continues — and your voice is urgently needed.
The Arguments. The Reality.
NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB have offered explanations for the managed decline of Chase Hospital. We have examined each one. The evidence does not support their position.
“The hub will replace what is lost”
The proposed hub contains no community inpatient beds. Patients needing step-down care, respite, or rehabilitation will face significantly longer journeys to distant facilities — if they can access them at all.
“Demand does not justify the services”
Internal evidence shows GPs were not consistently directed to refer patients to the Chase. Low utilisation was a manufactured outcome — the product of broken referral pathways, not genuine patient choice.
“This is about modernising care”
The Chase is a modern, purpose-built, fully accessible single-storey facility. It does not need replacement. It needs investment, full staffing, and restored referral pathways.
“The consultation showed community support”
Multiple consultation processes have been criticised by patient groups, MPs, and campaign organisations as inadequate, poorly publicised, and designed to reach a predetermined conclusion.
“The town's growth is being accounted for”
Whitehill & Bordon is projected to grow to 30,000 people — making it the largest population centre in East Hampshire. No healthcare expansion to match this growth has been planned. The opposite has occurred.
Patients who cannot travel 15–20 miles for rehabilitation after a hospital stay
Residents who relied on the Chase's fully accessible, single-storey design
Families forced to make longer journeys or provide care at home without support
The Story Getting National Attention
From BBC News to local investigative reporting — the managed decline of Chase Hospital is being covered, scrutinised, and challenged.
Share the coverage. Every article shared makes it harder for the NHS and the ICB to ignore the community. Post these links — tag your MP, your council, your neighbours.
Join the Group →Five Non-Negotiable Demands
This is not a negotiation. These are the minimum requirements for a healthcare system that is fit for this community.
Full Reinstatement of Community Inpatient Beds
Chase Hospital must be restored as a functioning community hospital with inpatient beds for step-down care, rehabilitation, and respite — sufficient to serve a population growing to 30,000.
Restoration of All Outpatient Services
ENT, audiology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and all diagnostic services removed during the managed decline must be reinstated, with proper GP referral pathways enforced.
Independent Review of the Managed Decline
A full, independent public inquiry into decisions made by NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB — including the manipulation of referral data and the adequacy of public consultations.
Healthcare Impact Assessment for Eco Town Growth
A legally binding healthcare planning commitment tied to the Whitehill & Bordon Eco Town development — ensuring healthcare provision matches the projected 30,000 population.
Parliamentary Accountability
The Secretary of State for Health must be held to account. We call on our local MPs and councillors to pursue this matter at the highest level until a binding commitment is made.
Help Us Take This to Court
The land Chase Hospital sits on was donated by Joan Knowles with a legal condition: it must be used as a community hospital or ambulance station. NHS Property Services Ltd must be held to account. That requires legal advice — and legal advice requires funding.
A resident from Bordon just donated to the legal fund
Every pound goes toward legal costs to challenge the NHS over the future of Chase Hospital. No amount is too small.
Why Your Donation Matters
“The land was left to the community by Joan Knowles — she specified it must be used as a community hospital or ambulance station.”
This is a legal condition — not a suggestion
Your Voice.
Their Decision.
Make Them Listen.
Managed decline only succeeds when communities stay silent. The NHS, the ICB, and elected representatives need to hear — loudly and clearly — that Bordon will not accept the loss of its community hospital.
Add Your Name on 38 Degrees
The campaign petition is live on 38 Degrees. Add your name and share it so the scale of local support is impossible to ignore.
Sign on 38 Degrees→Contribute to the Legal War Chest
The land Chase Hospital sits on was donated with a legal condition. NHS Property Services Ltd must be held to account. Your donation funds legal advice to make that happen.
Donate on GoFundMe→Contact Gregory Stafford MP
Your MP has stated he would prefer Chase be used for additional health needs. Write to reinforce that — and demand he formally pursues this with the Secretary of State.
Write via WriteToThem→Write to NHS Hampshire & IoW ICB
Send a formal complaint to NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB. Every letter on record strengthens the legal and political case for reinstatement.
ICB Contact Page→Facebook Campaign Group
Join hundreds of local residents on the campaign Facebook group — stay updated, share stories, coordinate action, and keep the pressure on.
Join on Facebook→“The Chase was not simply a building. For many residents — the elderly, the disabled, those without cars — it was the only accessible healthcare this town has ever had. Closing it is not modernising the NHS. It is abandoning a community.”
— Save Chase Hospital Campaign