Our engagement

Between 24 November 2023 and 7 January 2024 we held our first engagement period to find out what is most important to you when considering a site for the new hospital. We wanted to know what you thought of the criteria we were planning to use to assess the sites, specifically around the site location, planning, and buying the site. For each of these criteria, we listened to you on how appropriate they were, if any needed further refinement, if there were criteria that you thought were missing, and if any were particularly important to them, and why.

We held a series of engagement events in December 2023. A recording of one of them is below.

Summary of activity

The engagement period focused on engaging all Frimley Health staff and local communities that make up the majority of patients at Frimley Park Hospital – from Surrey, Hampshire, Bracknell and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

This was done through an online questionnaire, in-person public and staff listening events and pop up stands, virtual events, and by working closely with local partners and our community to promote the engagement period.

Thank you all for helping in promoting our first engagement period, which ran between November 2023 and January 2024. We used your feedback, comments and opinions to shape our site evaluation criteria and have published a report that explains how the feedback was considered in our site selection process so far.

Key findings

Demographics

• Respondent type: 72% of respondents were a member of the public, with 25% being Frimley Health staff members. 
• Area: 39% of respondents were from North East Hampshire and Farnham, 31% from Surrey Heath, 19% from Bracknell, and 3% from the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. 
• Gender: 72% of respondent were female, and 26% male. Age: 52% were under 55 years, and 48% over 55 years. 
• Ethnicity and disability: 94% were white, and 6% other ethnicities. 15% of respondents had a disability. 

Site location 

• What’s most important?: 56% said it was access by car, 35% said the distance from the current site, 31% said access by public transport, and 25% said they were all equally important. 
• What’s needed?: 12% said an accessible hospital, 11% said accessible public transport, and 10% said access by car. 
• What’s missing?: 44% said suitable car parking for all. 

Planning and restrictions 

• What’s most important?: 50% said all equally important, 37% said expansion potential for the future, 9% said noise pollution, 4% said development height parameters. 
• What is needed?: 55% said the need for future-proofing, 28% said population growth and demand increase, 15% said to consider impact on residents. 
• What is missing?: 27% said suitable car parking for all. 

Purchasing the site 

• What’s most important?: 66% said all equally important, 24% said availability of land, 9% said readiness to sell, 1% said appetite to sell. 
• What is needed?: 27% said all aspects are important, 20% said to minimise delays, 17% said locating available land for sale. 
• What is missing?: 37% said availability of appropriate land. 
• Respondent type: 72% of respondents were a member of the public, with 25% being Frimley Health staff members. 
• Area: 39% of respondents were from North East Hampshire and Farnham, 31% from Surrey Heath, 19% from Bracknell, and 3% from the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. 

• Gender: 72% of respondent were female, and 26% male. 

​​​​What was important to you?

We have published an independent report on the views, opinions and feedback we received during the engagement exercise. This was carefully considered as we move forward with our process to identify potential viable sites for the new Frimley Park Hospital.

Our clinical strategy 2025 – 2035 describes our vision for delivering care over the next decade so that we are compassionate, effective and modern in all that we do. It aligns to our new overarching trust strategy FHFT 2030, and has four guiding clinical principles:

• Firm foundations: Building on our solid foundations for the future
• Centre of excellence: Providing the highest quality specialist care and the best possible outcomes for all patients
• Add value: Using our resources effectively to support services and improve health outcomes
• Care without walls: Providing the right care, in the right place, at the right time

How we deliver care will need to change significantly over the coming years to ensure that we are able to deliver high quality care to our local population. At the centre of this are three strategic shifts (aligned to the Darzi review and emerging 10 – year plan) that we have used to describe how we will deliver care in the future:

• Treatment to prevention: Focusing on preventing sickness, not just treating it
• Analogue to digital: Effective use of digital technologies to provide great care
• Hospital to community: Shifting care from the hospital setting closer to home

We have been working closely with our clinical teams since late 2024 to create forward-thinking plans for each clinical service to guide day-to-day decisions. These plans involve developing new models of care, modernising how care is delivered, including what is needed for the new Frimley Park Hospital, to ensure we are consistently delivering better quality.

We are also working with patient panels and voluntary groups to understand the impact on these groups. Further engagement will be done with the public in the future around our services.