HEALTH chiefs have revealed that a new multi-million pound hospital serving a Hampshire community could be just two years away.

The NHS West Hampshire Clinical Commission Group (CCG) says proposals to bulldoze Hythe and Dibden War Memorial Hospital and replace it with a new building have “gained momentum”.

The showpiece facility will replace an ageing and "functionally unacceptable" hospital that was built more than a century ago.

A CCG spokesman said the proposed new complex would be finished by mid-2018 if everything went according to plan.

He added: "Once an architect is appointed and plans are finalised, the business case will be submitted to the CCG Board for final approval."

Dr Sarah Schofield, chairman of the CCG, added: “We are pleased to see that these plans are moving forward.

“A rebuild of the hospital will enable it to host local clinics and diagnostics such as x-ray, as well as being flexible enough to offer different services in the future.

"We are working to make sure we can handle an ageing population and a rising number of people living with a long-term illnesses by using new technology and treatments.

“We also want to do as much as we can to ensure that people are treated in their community, instead of travelling long distances.

“Big projects like this take time but I am hopeful that a new hospital will be opening its doors in just over two years’ time.”

Chris Harrison, chairman of Hythe and Dibden Parish Council, said: "That's wonderful news.

"Hythe and Dibden War Memorial Hospital is extremely important to the people of the area. Without it patients would have to travel to Southampton or Lymington."

Plans to replace the hospital in Beaulieu Road, Hythe, were approved by the CCG in 2014, when the estimated cost was put at £5 million.

Board members were told that building a new facility represented better value for money than funding major repairs to the existing complex.

In 2010 a survey revealed that the buildings “required major repairs or replacement, were in very poor condition and were functionally unacceptable”.

The CCG is vowing to demolish the hospital and build its replacement without any interruption to services.

A spokesman said services in the existing building had already transferred to a different section of the site and would move into new hospital once work was complete.

He added: "The cost will form part of the business case, which should completed by December this year."