Has Hemel Hospital closure plan stalled?

  • Mystery surrounds the fate of the bid by Dacorum Council and the local NHS to close Hemel Hospital and replace it with a ‘neighbourhood health centre’
  • The  plan should have been approved by regional NHS bosses at a 28 November meeting of the Integrated Care Board
  • That would pave the way for a bid to Whitehall for taxpayers' funds for the switch - said to cost £135m
  • But there was NOTHING ABOUT THE project on the  agenda for the meeting
  • There was no discussion of the Hub/closure plan in the public part of the meeting
  • DHAG has had to put in a FOI request asking whether he subject came up.
  • No answer yet
  • It's possible the authorities have been having second thoughts, with widespread public opposition to the closure.
  • But it's more likely that bosses have approved the bid in complete secrecy, in a private 'Part 2' session
  • WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE SO AFRAID TO TELL US WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO OUR TOWN?

by philip

Expert review debunks myth that all Hemel Hospital is unfit

  • Supporters of the Market Square Health Hub say that Hemel Hospital is old and unfit 
  • A recent expert report shows this sweeping statement - intended to support the PR campaign for the Hub - is quite wrong and misleading
  • The independent Six Facet Survey carried out in the winter of 2023-24 said the structure of the late-20th century Verulam Building at Hemel Hospital is 'Sound, operationally safe and exhibits only minor deterioration'.
  • That included foundations, walls, floors and roofs
  • There were quite a number of things that needed doing, including replacing wooden windows, but Verulam is basically a sound building, which could easily be refurbed and extended. 
  • It would make a great planned care hospital, with room around to expand to meet our growing needs over time
  • The redacted detailed survey is here - showing that Verulam is in better structural condition than either of the two main buildings at Watford General, Princess Michael of Kent and the Maternity Block - which will be used until the late 2030s
  • 2024 Six Facet half redacted

 

 

 

by philip

Beds would disappear under plan for Hemel Hub

  • There are NO BEDS in the latest plan for Hemel's Market Square Hub
  • This will disappoint supporters of a community hospital in the town, including MP David Taylor
  • The plan for the Hub also doesn't mention the many services currently provided at the Marlowes Health and Wellbeing Centre.
  • It doesn't look as if the Hub will be big enough to include beds or these important services
  • By contrast, there would be plenty of room for these services on the current Hospital site
  • WHY ARE THE COUNCIL AND NHS RUSHING TO ABANDON OUR SPACIOUS HOSPITAL SITE AND SQUEEZE SERVICES ONTO THE CRAMPED MARKET SQUARE?
  • The key points of the draft 'Schedule of Accommodation' for the Hub are here: Draft schedule of accommodation

 

by philip

Will new Partnership affect future of Hemel Hospital?

  • A supporter of Dacorum Health Action Group has asked West Herts NHS Trust whether the recent signing of the Dacorum Investment Partnership (DIP) involving the Borough Council and housebuilders the Hill Group will affect the future of the existing site of Hemel Hospital
  • DIP is an agreement 'aimed at increasing the number of affordable homes and delivering major regeneration projects across the borough'.
  • According to the Council, 'A key priority will be Hemel Hempstead town centre, where our Town Centre Vision sets out plans to transform it into a thriving culture and leisure hub'.
  • The NHS and the Council are exploring the idea of replacing the Hospital with a Health Campus on the Market Square in the Marlowes
  • The supporter has made this Freedom of Information request:
  • 'Is the co-operation agreement recently announced between Dacorum Borough Council and The Hill Group conditional upon The Hill Group being given sole rights to redevelop land which currently hosts Hemel Hempstead Hospital (and is, I understand, at present owned by the NHS.) ?'

by philip

Developers get together with Council - but will it be a lucky DIP for our Hospital?

  • Developers and Council promise 'new homes, commercial spaces, and leisure opportunities' for Hemel town centre
  • But there's no mention of a Hospital in the announcement of joint regeneration venture -Dacorum Investment Partnership - DIP 
  • Have key decisions on the fate of our Hospital already been taken by the DIP partners?
  • Is it now certain that the Hospital will close to be replaced by Market Square Campus or Hub?
  • Will we get the public consultation on our Hospital promised by Keir Starmer?
  • The link to the announcement is here:
  • https://www.dacorum.gov.uk/home/all-news/2025/08/11/investment-partnership-to-deliver-affordable-new-homes-and-regeneration

by philip

West Herts Trust refuse to say how much they've wasted on Watford General project

West Herts Trust have refused to make public how much has been wasted on developing the Watford General rebuild scheme - now stalled for 7 to 9 years

Health Service Journal has published estimates for money wasted on other schemes in the 40 New Hospitals programme

But West Herts have apparently blocked HSJ's freedom of info request on how much Wasteful Watford has cost up to now

by philip

Clear new site for a new West Herts hospital could save NHS up to £500m

  • New expert report says the NHS could save up to half a billion pounds with a new A&E and specialist hospital on a clear new site instead of rebuilding Watford General
  • Hospital on suitable clear site could also be built up to a year earlier than struggling on with Wasteful Watford redevelopment
  • Highly experienced building expert Robert Scott says West Herts Trust plan for building at Watford's cramped and sloping Vicarage Road site would be costly and disruptive, with several risks to patient care
  • Over many years, Trust has failed to come up with a Watford scheme that is both affordable and practical.
  • 7+ year delay to Watford plan is a chance to explore cheaper, quicker - and better - options
  • Watford's woes would include - noisy and polluting interference with working of the existing hospital, need for expensive groundworks, complex safety measures, reduced working hours, inadequate access for construction traffic which would hamper hospital traffic
  • Mr Scott, who is a member of the New Hospital Campaign, calculates that building on a clear site could cost around £1.45bn - against a likely cost of around £1.936bn for the rebuild of Watford General
  • That's a Watford Money Gap of about £500m
  • Report calls for 'A full professional independent review and alternative site search' for alternative options for a new West Herts hospital and 'a reliable re-evaluation of the current proposals' 

The full media release on the Scott report is here: Media release costs comparison

The Scott report is here: FinalHospital Site Viability Study 5_3_25

by philip

Exploring new hospital sites - the NHS sets out the to-do list

West Herts NHS Trust explained how, in 18 months or less, a new site  could become the 'preferred option' for the area's emergency care hospital.

The work towards a new preferred option, set out in a paper for the Trust Board in May 2022, would include:

  •  an updated site search to identify suitable potential sites
  • an appraisal of these sites to identify any viable options / a shortlist of
    potential sites
  • more detailed appraisal of the shortlist to identify one or more preferred
    options
  • initial review of site infrastructure requirements
  • preliminary commercial negotiations
  • exploratory discussions with relevant planning authorities
  • detailed feasibility studies and 1:500 designs for the identified site/s to produce robust and comparable capital costs for the shortlist appraisal
  • The paper  says 'Once all the above had been completed the detailed option appraisal could be updated and a new preferred option recommendation ascertained. It is anticipated that it would take c.12 to 18 months to complete the above work and cost in excess of £2m.' 
  • There would then be more detailed work on the new preferred option, including getting planning permission. That could take between 9 and 18 months.
  • Even if this preliminary work on a new option took the maximum time calculated by the Trust, the project would be well on the way by 2028.
  • The Watford General project does not have full planning permission and no final design has been determined

The papers are here - see Tab 5.2 - shortlist review   May_2022_board_papers2

by philip

The West Herts Trust doesn't want you to see these reports

  • The decision to reject all possible clear new accessible sites for a new emergency and specialist West Hertfordshire Hospital was based on a single technical assessment by NHS civil servants published in 2020
  • This 'site feasibility study'  (SFS) said that it would be quicker and less risky to build a new hospital facility at Watford General than at any clear new site in a place that West Herts people could reach more easily (page 3)
  • This SFS has been suppressed by the Trust - it has been removed from the Trust website and the Trust has done its best to make it impossible for the public to trace it on the internet
  • But the New Hospital Campaign have kept a copy - attached!
  • Also attached is a report by an independent expert commissioned by the New Hospital Campaign which says it would be quicker to build on a clear new accessible site than to build at Watford General
  • That report, by Mike Naxton, says: 'The Watford site would seem to take a much longer period to deliver a fully functional facility under the proposed redevelopment plans than would be the case with the Greenfield New Build option.' He continues that there is a 'high risk of time and cost overruns as a result of
    encountering unforeseen problematic conditions on an existing aged operational hospital estate
    such as Watford.' (page 26)
  • Please feel free to make your own choice! 
  • This is the report with the assessment by NHS civil servants:
  • WHHT Site Feasibility Report - 210820 - final
  • This is the independent report:
  • Full-Naxton-Report-with-Appendices

by philip

Is it built of Lego or not? Trust muddle over 'actual design' of new hospital

  • West Herts Trust's new website sows confusion over the design for the proposed Watford General rebuild
  • Its redevelopment page proudly proclaims that a video shows 'the actual design' of the costly new hospital, suggesting the main design work has been done and dusted
  • No such luck. There are big differences between the two images of the design of the entrance block which appear next to each other on the same website page.
  • One image (the top one below) shows a rounded building with a consistent height, smoothly linking into the 200 foot-plus towers where most patients will be
  • The other image (the bottom one below from a slightly different angle) shows a squared-off building with varying heights, awkwardly butting up against the closely-packed tower blocks. Legoland Watford.

by philip