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Public opposes Market Square Hub – survey

An opinion survey shows the depth of public opposition to the Market Square Hub

Below are quotes from a Council summary of an opinion survey on the plans, carried out on behalf of the Council and Trust in 2025:

  • A general feeling that services have been deliberately run down in Hemel to justify centralising in Watford.
  • A number of respondents said the town deserves a fully functioning hospital with A&E and maternity services, not just a health campus.
  • Watford General is widely described as difficult to access, overcrowded, poorly managed, and too far, especially for emergencies.
  • Many want investment in the current Hemel Hospital site rather than building a new facility 
  • People see the proposed campus as a “downgrade” or a “smaller alternative.”
  • The existing site is seen as larger, better located, with more space and parking.
  • The Market Square location raises concerns about congestion, limited space, and insufficient parking.
  • Strong concern that with new housing developments, the proposed campus will be inadequate.
  • Residents feel a larger-scale hospital solution is needed to meet demand.
  • The survey also asked people whether they agreed with ‘The re-location of existing services currently provided at Hemel Hospital site, to a new Health
    Campus in the town centre.’
  • 41% agreed or strongly agreed, with 42% disagreeing or strongly disagreeing. 
  • There was no question which mentioned the authorities’ preferred option of the Market Square Hub
  • The survey had 793 respondents. The full analysis is below:
  • dad111d946de3fc5aee1c6b902dd881d_Public survey analysis_summary

 

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Will Community services be shrunk to fit the Hub?

  • There is uncertainty over the future of community health services in Hemel, with the fate of the Marlowes Health and Wellbeing (HWB) Centre in doubt
  • The HWB Centre is a substantial four-storey building
  • It offers a wide variety of community health services for adults and children
  • They range from audiology to a leg ulcer clinic, podiatry to dentistry
  • The idea is that the Market Square Hub will bring together many services
  • But Hub plans have only ONE FLOOR dedicated to community services
  • If the HWB is closed, that could mean a big reduction in space for those services
  • Can the NHS want to shrink everything in the HWB onto a single storey?
  • How many community services will fit onto the Hub's single floor?
  • The evidence, yet again, is that the Hub is, simply,
  • MUCH TOO SMALL FOR OUR NEEDS 
  •  Below are: the current HWB and, below that, the current floor plan of the Hub, with on Level Three, the only space for community services.

by philip

PR push on Water Gardens car parks development. But will we have proper consultation as well?

  • The PR push to promote schemes for housebuilding via the Dacorum Investment Partnership (DIP) is under way
  • But will we have proper public consultation on the strategy for housing as well as the spin?
  • Housing and other development is planned on the Water Gardens car parks - one of three initial DIP 'priority' sites. It should include extra parking for the Health Hub
  • PR firm Puttock Brown aims to publish a 'stakeholder newsletter' and mount 'digital campaigns', to sell the theme of 'Investing in Dacorum's Future'
  • DIP says it will 'Promote meaningful community engagement, supporting consultation and collaboration throughout the development process'
  • Puttock Brown is being paid by DIP, which is a joint venture between Dacorum Council and housebuilders Hill Group
  • The PR plans are on page 23 of the DIP Investment Plan:

https://www.dacorum.gov.uk/docs/default-source/regeneration/dacorum-investment-plan-2026.pdf?sfvrsn=f24109e_3

  • Below, from the Investment Plan, is an image showing DIP's three 'priority' sites for affordable housing - Cherry Bounce in blue, Civic Centre site in yellow, and Water Gardens in red, Also the page on the Water Gardens car parks developments

 

 

 

 

 

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Developing the Water Gardens car parks - latest

  • The timetable for the development of the Water Gardens car parks is a bit clearer
  • Housebuilders Hill Group and Dacorum Council aim to put housing and other development on the car parks 
  • Their Dacorum Investment Partnership (DIP) involves the billion-turnover company and the Council in joint decision-making on selected sites around Dacorum
  • 'Due diligence' checks on the Water Gardens car park plan will start this Autumn
  • Likely to include checks on whether the ground can take the extra weight of about 400 added parking spaces needed for the Hub
  • See page 17 of the DIP Investment Plan for more about what DIP wants to do with the setting of listed Water Gardens:

dacorum-investment-plan-2026

by philip

Mount Vernon move to Watford General would be deeply flawed

  • Plans to move the highly-rated Mount Vernon Cancer Centre (MVCC) to Watford General Hospital (WGH) are deeply flawed
  • Dacorum Health Action Group (DHAG) say the move to squeeze MVCC next door to Watford FC  would:
  1. Be impractical because the restricted Watford General site is unfit for development, especially with plans to rebuild the existing General Hospital on the severely sloping car park at the same time
  2. Cause many years of disruption to the working of the current Hospital
  3. Incur financial risks because the costs of the General Hospital rebuild are already out of control
  4. Bring car park problems to a site that already suffers with parking issues
  • DHAG accepts that MVCC needs to be very close to the facilities of a general hospital because patients often need extra support
  • But Watford General is not the right place
  • There are better sites for both WGH and Mount Vernon, with good access to all parts of West Herts, that need to be considered urgently
  • DHAG's response to the public consultation on the move is below:

        Final MVCC response

 

 

 

by philip

Market Square Hub may not improve access for patients

 

  • Claims that the Market Square 'health centre' Hub will improve access for patients may not stand up
  • In 2021 an NHS survey found 68.5% of patients drove to Hemel Hospital - see below
  • Only 8.9% travelled by bus, train and other public transport. It needs to grow, but that will take time
  • The impression given by those pressing for closure of Hemel Hospital is that departments are distant from car parking, up steep slopes
  • But for many patients that isn't true
  • Some of the busiest parts of the Hospital are on the same level as the free car parks for Asda and Iceland just across Hillfield Road
  • It is a couple of hundred metres from the surface Asda car park to the blood clinic (which deals with over 300 patients a day)
  • The X-ray/MRI department is 100 metres or so further - again a pretty flat walk
  • The urgent treatment centre has its own (paid) car park near the entrance
  • The (paid) top car park serves the Verulam Building which houses many other services
  • It is only a minute or two from the Verulam entrance - though there are steps to negotiate for most users
  • What are the promoters of the Market Square health centre offering?
  • The Water Gardens car parks. These are spread out, so many spaces will be two hundred metres or much more from the Market Square
  • If the Hospital is closed as some politicians want, about 400 extra cars will have to find spaces on the Water Gardens car parks
  • Those car parks are already well used. There is no way they can accommodate the extra 400 vehicles.
  • SO CLAIMS THAT THE HUB WILL MAKE ACCESS EASIER LOOK VERY DUBIOUS.
  • Below is from a survey commissioned by the West Herts NHS Trust in 2021:

 

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Hub stalls as delay stretches to SEVEN months

  • More frustration for some Dacorum councillors as the plan to close Hemel Hospital stalls
  • Case for replacement of our Hospital with a Market Square 'health centre' Hub must get go-ahead from regional NHS bosses
  • The bosses' thumbs-up for the £135m closure scheme should have been given in NOVEMBER 2025
  • But scheme was not on the agenda for the Central East Care Board bosses' meeting yesterday
  • The next meeting where it might be discussed is 27 JUNE 2026.
  • That will mean a slippage of SEVEN MONTHS
  • With money tight, wiser heads in the NHS might be wondering whether they should spend so much on one unpopular 'health centre'
  • This is the timetable the Council and NHS were hoping for in September last year - with Hospital closure strategic outline case 'submitted' before the end of 2025. The case has not been submitted yet.

by philip

Doubts grow over funding for Hospital closure plan

  • Where will the money come from for the 'neighbourhood health centre' (NHC) to replace Hemel Hospital?
  • The Market Square 'health centre' Hub would cost £135m, according to West Herts Trust Board papers 
  • But last week the Government confirmed that the first 50 NHCs would cost an average of just - £4m for refurbishments
  • There are plans to eventually house some NHCs in new buildings - but the MAXIMUM cost would be a reported £40m
  • So the Market Square Hub would cost three times more than any other in the country
  • Money raised from the sale of the Hospital site is going to be modest, a Trust official admitted last year
  • This plan doesn't sound good value for money - the Hub appears basically a 'rationalisation' of existing services
  • Here is the link to the Government announcement:
  • https://www.gov.uk/government/news/communities-to-benefit-from-health-centres-on-their-doorstep

 

by philip

'Misinformation' - a challenge to the NHS and Dacorum Council

  • The various groups of campaigners against the closure of Hemel Hospital have been accused of spreading misinformation about the plan
  • The supporters of the closure say that campaigners indulge in speculation about the replacement Neighbourhood Health Centre in Market Square
  • Closure supporters rarely identify specific inaccuracies in what campaigners say
  • But it is disturbing that this debate has reached this point
  • One of the reasons is that the authorities have provided very little hard information about the project
  • A good example is the 2025 'public version' of the 'Economic Case' for the project - which contained not one Pound sign
  • The complete Strategic Outline Case (SOC) has not been made public
  • This retreat from transparency is very disappointing, because previously, the local NHS Trust has made a very detailed public case for its plans
  • For example, when the Trust Board considered acute redevelopment in 2020, the full case for building on Watford General was made public and responses were invited
  • A full draft Strategic Outline Case including case numbers had been made public the year before
  • The 2020 public document had full information including -
  1. costs of various options, including their impact on the finances of the Trust
  2. detailed analysis of the longlist of options,
  3. detailed technical site feasibility studies
  4. detailed reports of the work of stakeholder panels including the public
  5. detailed descriptions of potential risks
  • The fact that the SOC for the Hemel Hospital closure/Neighbourhood Health Centre scheme has NOT been made public has meant that people have not been given enough information
  • Here is the challenge to the promoters of the Neighbourhood Health Centre scheme
  • WHY NOT PUBLISH THE STRATEGIC OUTLINE CASE ?
  • What do you have to lose?
  • Below are the 2020 329-page Board papers from the 2020 redevelopment debate 

WHHT and HVCCG Board Meetings 01 Oct 2020_Updated on 2020-09-29

 

 

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What will happen to Hemel's final hospital beds?

  • Will Hemel keep its rehabilitation beds?
  • Hemel Hospital currently has just one inpatient ward left - the 20-bed St Peter's Ward rehabilitation unit
  • It is for people who are ready to leave hospital care. Patients have therapy 'to help them become as independent as possible.' 
  • It can also be used as 'part of a rapid care response to avoid people being admitted to hospital.'
  • The NHS aims to demolish Hemel Hospital and replace it with a 'neighbourhood health centre' in Market Square
  • The Market Square site appears to be too small to accommodate any beds
  • A review of the beds was due to report in February
  • There has been no public announcement of the review's outcome.
  • DHAG has asked the West Herts Trust for information on the fate of the 20 beds

by philip