RESIDENTS have been given their first glimpse of designs for a £168.5m complex which could revolutionise healthcare in Hampshire.

Plans for a ten-acre emergency hospital and cancer treatment centre near Basingstoke – which could affect patients from Winchester, Eastleigh and Chandler’s Ford – went on show to residents at an exhibition.

Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust wants to build the facility to treat thousands of critically ill patients in the centre of the county.

The £150m critical treatment hospital, on green fields near North Waltham, would be one of two in England and the first to offer 24-hour consultant care.

Designs for an £18.5m cancer treatment centre, which would centralise chemotherapy, radiotherapy and outpatient treatment, were also unveiled.

But the plans have sparked fears for the future of maternity services and accident and emergency at Winchester’s Royal Hampshire County Hospital (RHCH).

Jackie Porter, the city’s Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, has launched a petition which now contains 2,000 signatures, demanding that maternity consultants stay at the RHCH.

The plans were revised in 2013 to welcome low-risk mothers after pressure from obstetricians, according to Hampshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s maternity lead Michael Heard.

He said: “If we don’t do this, it’s very unlikely that central Hampshire will have two neonatal units and two intensive care units.”

More than 100 residents visited the exhibition, with many raising concerns over noise, traffic and erosion of the countryside.

Mary Edwards, chief executive of Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said that local opinion would be taken on board before the final designs and planning applications are submitted.

The emergency hospital could open by the end of 2018, with the cancer centre planned for the following year.