philip

The Hub will be TOO SMALL to serve our Borough

  • The Hemel Hub will be too small to serve the whole Borough of Dacorum
  • Health bosses now admit it will only be a Neighbourhood Health Centre (NHC)
  • The Hub will probably be the biggest type of NHC, a Core++. 
  • New NHS documents confirm that Core++ NHCs will serve 100,000 people 
  • Problem is ... the population of Dacorum is ALREADY over 165,000
  • A big rise is expected in the number of people over 65 and living with frailty
  • So demand will grow - but the Market Square Hub will not have the  flexibility and space to meet the demand.
  • Councillors need to explain why they are using Dacorum residents' council tax to help build a facility that will be inadequate for many of us on the day it opens
  • This is the link to the new NHS guidance on NHCs - 
  • https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/neighbourhood-health-centres-design-and-performance-specification/
  • Here are extracts from the NHS guidance relating to the various types of NHC:
  • Guidance Extracts April 2026

by philip

Uncertainty over Hemel's last Hospital beds drags on

  • The future of Hemel Hospital's final beds is clouded by uncertainty
  • A review of the services of the 20-bed St Peter's rehabilitation ward should have been finished by December 2025
  • The ward is run by Central London Community Healthcare Trust
  • The ward has an important role in helping patients 'patients to manage their own health conditions and look after themselves.'
  • Now DHAG has learned via an FOI bid that the review won't be made public until the summer or autumn of this year
  • NHS bosses give mixed messages about whether the ward could transfer to the Market Square 'neighbourhood health centre' Hub
  • The Trust list of services planned for inclusion in the Hub refers to an 'Inpatient rehabilitation ward'
  • But the only floor plan made public makes no mention of the ward

by philip

Options for future of Hemel Hospital - survey

  • A new survey by Dacorum Health Action Group asks the public whether they want a Market Square Health Campus - or development of the Hemel Hospital site
  • Dacorum Council and the NHS have agreed that two options will be included in the new Local Plan - a key document on the future of the area
  • This is the link to the survey:
  • https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SXW53MF
  • The issues are covered in two documents sent to Local Plan inspectors in February 2026.
  • The Hearing Statement by the NHS is number 960 if you follow the link below:
  • https://letstalk.dacorum.gov.uk/hearing-statements
  • The Statement of Common Ground between the NHS and Dacorum Council is number DBC/ED46 if you follow the link below:
  • https://letstalk.dacorum.gov.uk/examination-documents

 

by philip

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

 

by philip

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

 

 

 

 

 

by philip

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:

 

by philip

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