A £1.3M scheme has been unveiled by health chiefs to develop and improve health services in a Hampshire town.

Fareham and Gosport Clinical Commissioning Group has revealed plans to invest and bring in more services to Fareham Community Hospital.

It is part of a two-year pilot scheme after it was found that only 62% of the total capacity was being used by current health services.

The hospital in Sarisbury Green currently provides elderly mental care, physiotherapy and outpatient services and occupational therapy, but lost £427,000 last year as 38% of the hospital was not utilised at all.

Now, under the two-year pilot, the CCG will double the occupancy rate at the hospital and will provide more enhanced services including an enhanced GP facility and a minor injury facility.

Fareham health chiefs will spend over £1.3m a year in pay for the rent for the hospital space, then it will recoup this through contracts with healthcare providers including the Southern Health NHS Foundation trust.

They claim that the move will give residents increased use of a developed, highly-regarded facility by providers who could relocate existing services there from other less suitable NHS estate, providing a better facility and improved services to patients.

The new developments could become part of a bigger overall health plan that was revealed by Fareham MP Suella Fernandes, which proposed that the hospital could become a location for a Primary Health Care Hub that would provide specialist services for the whole borough.

She said: “Working with local GPs, the CCG and local health trusts, we are looking at options which include setting up a primary care hub at the hospital where many health specialists will be based.”

Sara Tiller, the CCG’s chief development officer, said: “Fareham Community Hospital is a super facility and we are determined to significantly improve the use of the site.

“We are taking an innovative approach to try to unlock the space so the hospital can be used to its full potential, which is exciting for us as commissioners – and we hope for local people too.

“This means that the CCG is effectively underwriting the cost of the building so that any increased use by service providers does not lead to a rise in their costs.

“That should mean they are much more likely to run services or clinics from this site, rather than older and less patient-friendly estate that they might be using elsewhere.

“Our ultimate aim is for the hospital to become a much more flexible building which can deliver a new model of care for patients and service-users across Fareham.”

The hospital is currently managed by the Community Health Partnerships, which is a body owned by the Department for Health that develops the NHS estate and deliver service integration across the country.