I WAS very pleased to attend the Chamber of Commerce’s new discussion forum on Friday, which gave a very helpful collective review of the projects in which Salisbury organisations are currently engaged.

I look forward to taking a number of these projects forward with Wiltshire Council and other local policy leaders.

This week we heard the news of Salisbury District Hospital’s deficit and the undertaking it has entered into to restore its finances to a stable footing.

From the conversations I have had in recent months with the hospital leadership, this was expected by them and comes as no surprise but they are keen to set it in the context of the hospital’s estate, where just 43 per cent of the usable space is occupied by clinical facilities and their associated services.

Built originally principally on one storey for use as a military hospital, there is little doubt that, were it being designed today, SDH would be designed very differently.

No organisation would willingly underexploit its assets to such an extent and the size and configuration of the site now presents an opportunity that the chief executive recognises.

It is neither financially nor humanely the best outcome for patients to remain on the ward for extended periods after major illness or surgery when they need a more suitable recuperative environment within the precincts of the hospital.

I am delighted that Salisbury has a leadership team who are willing to examine the long-term potential of the hospital and its estate and have developed comprehensive plans to set it on course to meet the ever increasing complex needs and expectations of local people.

I am clear that Salisbury is served by a hospital we can be proud of, which, thanks to the hard work of its skilled staff, continues to perform very well against national measures of clinical effectiveness and operational efficiency.

Of course additional investment is needed and, as I wrote to Postbag, Salisbury is in receipt of its extra money for winter pressures, in addition to its share of the additional £8bn committed to the NHS over the next five years.