ALTON’S next public health consultation takes place on Saturday.

It is the brainchild of the NHS North Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group, the organisation responsible for making sure people continue to receive safe, high-quality health services, but with a duty to make sure that services it funds are affordable and offer good value for money.

The population of Alton and the surrounding villages is growing, more people are living longer, and more people than ever before are living with long-term health conditions such as asthma and diabetes.

As such, the clinical commissioning group is working in partnership with Hampshire County Council, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (responsible for Basingstoke Hospital), Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust (responsible for Alton Community Hospital) and district GPs to carry out a review of health and health-related services used by the expanding population.

Tomorrow’s drop-in event will provide another opportunity, before any detailed proposals are developed, for people to be updated on how the review is progressing and to express their views on the opportunities created by new models of care which are developing nationally and locally.

Members of the review team will give regular presentations throughout the day. In between sessions there will be opportunities to speak with members of the team and others involved in the review.

Anyone unable to attend but who would like to share their views on health-related care services can e-mail [email protected].

The meeting is at Alton Community Centre, from 10am-3pm.