HEMEL HOSPITAL SERVICES FACE UNCERTAIN FUTURE - HERE IS THE CHECKLIST
- Dacorum Council and NHS plans to close Hemel Hempstead Hospital and replace it with a Health Hub in the former Market Square mean the hospital services available to Dacorum people face an uncertain future.
- During the Election, Hemel MP David Taylor pledged to push for a Community Hospital for the town.
- As a checklist of what has been happening to our local NHS, and a baseline for might happen in future, here is the tally of services the NHS claimed to be providing at Hemel Hospital just three years ago, in September 2021.
- Some, like the Fracture Clinic, have already been moved elsewhere. Surgery and maternity seem to have disappeared too
- SERVICES LISTED BY NHS AS AVAILABLE AT HEMEL HEMPSTEAD HOSPITAL IN SEPTEMBER 2021:
- Urgent treatment centre,
- Cardiology,
- dermatology,
- diabetes,
- gastroenterology,
- general medicine,
- haematology,
- neurology,
- neurophysiology,
- older peoples services,
- rheumatology,
- respiratory medicine,
- stroke,
- audiology,
- clinical oncology,
- general, colorectal and vascular surgery,
- urology,
- ear, nose and throat,
- fracture clinic,
- children's services,
- gynaecology,
- obstetrics and maternity
How many of these services will be locally available in Dacorum after the move to the Market Square?
WEAK COUNCIL PLAN COULD MEAN DOWNGRADE FOR HOSPITAL SERVICES
- Inadequate Dacorum Council plans risk a poorer future for Hemel's health services
- Dacorum Borough Council's local plan needs to be strengthened to prevent the NHS downgrading the Borough's hospital facilities
- NHS services must be expanded to meet the needs of Borough's growing and ageing population (numbers of over-65s will rise 35% in the next 20 years)
- But the Council's draft plan gives no guarantee even that all inadequate existing services will be maintained in the planned Health Hub which could take the place of Hemel Hospital. It says only the Hub 'will likely replace much of the remaining facilities on the existing hospital site.'
- The NHS refuses to guarantee that the Hemel Urgent Care Centre (40000 cases a year) will be maintained or replaced
- The Council needs to stand up for our local hospital services - and not let the NHS downgrade them further
The Dacorum Local Plan is below - see especially paragraph 2.44
Appendix A_Local Plan to 2041 for SPAE
WATFORD GENERAL SAFETY RISKS REVEALED
Safety risks at Watford General Hospital have been kept secret for months - after the Trust were told about them in an independent report in the spring. Risks not made public until now included:
- Fire doors, signage for escape, electrical testing and inspection and storage of flammable materials which all failed to meet standards in parts of the main clinical building, Princess Michael of Kent
- They had a C or D rating - meaning they contravened laws or guidance on safety
- FOI request by a local resident forced Trust to admit to failings set out in independent Six-Facet Survey
- Why did the Trust keep these risks from the public?
- What is the Trust doing to make patients and staff safer?
Below is the link to the Six-Facet Survey report - look at the 'Statutory' page for Watford General Hospital
Watford General rebuild could be 'one of the biggest hospital building failures'
A vastly experienced building expert has warned plans to rebuild Watford General Hospital could lead to a massive and very expensive 'building failure'.
The dire warning came in a letter to Hemel Hempstead MP David Taylor from Bob Scott, a former senior executive of major construction and property development companies. His experience covered many NHS hospital projects as well as other major building projects.
In the letter Mr Scott, a member of the New Hospital Campaign:
- SLAMMED the decision to press ahead with rebuilding Watford General as being driven by political considerations rather than public need,
- WARNED that extensive demolition, civil engineering works and removal of contaminated soil would bring 'adverse environmental conditions' for patients in Watford General wards,
- POINTED TO the risk of high construction costs from building very tall tower blocks at Watford.
Mr Scott concluded:
I fear that, as matters stand, if the Trust’s redevelopment proposals proceed, they have all the ingredients to result in one of the biggest hospital building failures the country has experienced.
Mr Scott's letter is below:
Letter as sent to D Taylor MP 12 Aug 24
'PLAN B' FOR WATFORD GENERAL WILL MEAN 'SIGNIFICANT DISRUPTION' TO PATIENTS AND STAFF
Patients and staff at Watford General face nearly ten years of turmoil as the West Herts Trust is forced to fall back on refurbishing old buildings.
A likely Plan B will mean building work going on to 2033.
- Unaffordable £1.4bn triple tower hospital likely to be replaced by cheaper option, responding to cuts demanded by Reeves Review of failed 'New Hospital Programme'
- Report drawn up in 2022 gives details of cheaper option, including refurbished main block and smaller new build
- Architects admit likely £800m Plan B option will bring 'significant disruption to the existing services while the site continues to operate during construction.'
- Plan will 'inevitably prolong the overall duration of works increasing cost.'
- Option 'provides a convoluted path to some services. This includes the diagnostic services that are split across three locations.'
The plans (Option 3) are set out in a paper known as the RIBA Stage One report.
WATFORD GENERAL ISN'T THE BEST FOR MANY - IN WATFORD
FOR MANY WATFORD PEOPLE, WATFORD GENERAL WOULD NOT BE THE BEST OPTION FOR A NEW HOSPITAL - LOOK AT THIS MAP
- Watford General is not easy to get to from much of Watford - close to the southern edge of the Borough
- Possible new hospital sites in Wayside Farm, south of Kings Langley and Bricket Wood/Chiswell Green (near the M1/M25 junction) would be closer than Watford General for many thousands of Watford people
- People in Garston, Leavesden and other parts of Watford would find it easier to get to alternative sites - to say nothing of the hundreds of thousands who live outside the Borough
- Other sites could emerge if the NHS encouraged them
There is now NO funded plan for Watford General, with the Government reviewing the project - Time for a major rethink of the stalled Watford General project - let's go for a new West Herts Hospital
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO HEMEL'S £51 MILLION?
There's mystery over the fate of £51 million earmarked for developing Hemel Hempstead Hospital.
Just two years ago, in May 2022, West Herts NHS Trust agreed plans to spend that amount on Hemel Hospital - and over £1.1bn on the Watford General rebuild.
The Hemel Hospital plans would have seen new diagnostic facilities and a new urgent treatment centre at the Verulam Building.
Now the favoured way forward is a Health Campus which would bring these hospital services together with other NHS facilities in a major rationalisation on the former Market Square. One aim is to help regenerate the town centre.
But 'commercial confidentiality' may block the public from knowing how much might be spent on the new building.
This retreat from openness would be a change of policy on the part of the West Herts Trust, which gave very detailed figures for costs of redevelopments in a Trust Board paper in May 2022. The figures also show that the Trust expected to make £10m from land sales at Hemel Hospital.
Unless these figures are updated, the public will not be able to know which of the various proposals for health and hospital services in Hemel is best.
The May 2022 cost figures are in the screenshot below, which is taken from the published Board papers for that month. 'WGH' is Watford General, 'HHH' is Hemel Hempstead Hospital and 'SACH' is St Albans City Hospital
WATFORD GENERAL PLANS DELAY PROGRESS FOR CANCER CENTRE
Vital work to provide a new building for the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre MVCC) is being held up by wrangling among NHS bureaucrats.
The delay - which could mean cancer patients waiting ten years for much-needed new premises - is being caused by the determination of West Herts Trust to press ahead with rebuilding Watford General.
New analysis by Dacorum Health Action Group explains that:
- Cancer centres, where patients are treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, need to be located next to acute hospitals where facilities like intensive care units are available
- The MVCC buildings at Northwood, Middlesex, are in very poor condition and are far from the necessary acute services, making care difficult for patients and staff
- Watford General has been put forward by the NHS as the site for a new MVCC
- But the NHS is giving priority to the 7-year rebuild of Watford General, with the MVCC move taking second place
- Dacorum Health Action Group (DHAG) is calling on the NHS to explore clear new accessible sites where a new MVCC could be located alongside a new West Hertfordshire A&E hospital
DHAG's new analysis of the MVCC situation is below:
HEMEL'S NEW MP FACES DAUNTING HEALTH IN-TRAY
Congratulations to David Taylor MP.
Hemel Hempstead elected a new MP yesterday as part of the Labour landslide that sees Keir Starmer take over in Downing Street.
David Taylor will have to tackle a wide variety of health and hospital issues. His last leaflet before the election was all about health, so he realises how important it is.
Here are just some of the issues he faces:
- Hemel people don't want Watford General. David must now be aware, from the doorstep and from reports of our public meeting, that people in Hemel don't want Watford General to be rebuilt in a hugely disruptive and unaffordable 7-year project. Will he follow the cross-party tradition of Hemel MPs opposing the Watford rebuild? His majority is under 5000, making it a marginal. He will surely have to take into account the views of his constituents. But in Watford, David's colleague Matt Turmaine has promised people that Watford General will be rebuilt. How will Labour square this circle?
- Financial woes at the West Herts Trust. The West Herts Trust is facing an £18.5m deficit this year - the poorest financial performance in the Herts and West Essex region. Cuts of £27m are being applied - how will David be monitoring the impact of the cuts on patient services? There may be no money for David's idea of a Community Hospital for Hemel.
- Mount Vernon crisis. Vital new premises for the crumbling Mount Vernon Cancer Centre are seemingly being held up by disgraceful NHS dithering. The problem is that a crucial move for MVCC cannot happen until the Watford General rebuild is finished - meaning a ten-year wait for a new MVCC. The obvious solution - a clear joint site for a new West Herts Hospital and a new MVCC - is apparently ruled out by West Herts' obsession with building at Watford. This is a story that reflects very badly on the NHS.
- Trust Board does not reflect Dacorum views. Key decisions on hospitals for the 155000 people of Dacorum are made by the unelected Board of the West Herts Trust, which has NOT ONE independent member from the Borough. David has expressed his concern in the past and should now demand urgent action to correct a situation which is totally unacceptable. How was this ever allowed to happen?
- GP and dental access problems. GP access is hard for everybody now, but some Hemel practices are worse than others. How can the worst learn from the best? Dental deserts are rife all over the country - how can the NHS tackle that problem in Hemel and other parts of West Herts?
HEALTH ACTION GROUP SEND TOUGH QUESTIONS TO WEST HERTS TRUST
Dacorum Health Action Group (DHAG) has demanded answers from West Herts Hospitals Trust to a series of tough questions from the general public about the way the Trust is running our services.
Issues raised in the questions, submitted at last week's pre-election public meeting organised by DHAG, included:
- Why is the Trust refusing to own up to the likely cost of the Watford General rebuild?
- How will the deficit-ridden Trust pay for the Watford General rebuild?
- How will the impact on patients and staff of the Trust's £27m annual cuts be monitored?
- How will the Trust keep services running at Watford General during the disruptive seven-year rebuild?
The questions are at the link below:
Questions West Herts for Candidates meeting 24.6.24