News – New Hospital Campaign

TRUST IN DENIAL AS DOUBTS GROW OVER MONEY AND DESIGN FOR WATFORD'S TOWERING INFIRMARY

The West Hertfordshire Trust was in full denial mode last week as it insisted that all was well with its 260-foot tower block hospital for Watford.

But there's growing uncertainty that the Trust will get the money to build the hospital - or approval for its preferred design.

• On finance, a Trust Board meeting on 5 October was assured that there was 'full funding' for its triple-tower, 400-foot wide design. A Trust official claimed not to know that funding could be changed under future government finance reviews. Yet the Department of Health made clear in a press release in May that funding could be altered by government. In tough times for public spending, that financial uncertainty casts doubt on the Trust's £1.1 bn plus Watford plans - among the most expensive of all the 'new' hospitals.
• On design, Watford Borough councillors will be taking a very close look at the Trust's present plans and may seek big changes. The Council's policy is to keep new buildings in the hospital area to a decent height of about six storeys. That could mean lopping over one hundred feet off the height of the present enormous design, which runs to the equivalent of 20 plus storeys. The Council's development management committee warned last month that it will also be looking at the quality of the design after doubts were raised about the amount of shadow that would be created by the three tall towers - crammed together just 15 or so metres apart.

The Trust needs to get real and accept that its plans just won't work.

by philip

CAMPAIGN HITS PARLIAMENT WITH ATTACK ON BOTCHED NEW HOSPITAL PROGRAMME

The New Hospital Campaign has sent Parliament a scathing attack on the Government's hospital-building efforts, especially the plans for Watford General.

The Campaign has submitted to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee a detailed report setting out the many failings of the Government's New Hospital Programme. The Programme aims to build 40 new (or refurbished) hospitals in England by 2030.  The Campaign's report says that:

•  The reasons for the choice of sites for new hospitals, including Watford, have never been explained. There was no proper evidence to say why one hospital is to be given a new building while others are to be left as they are;
• Plans for 'Hospital 2.0', a standard system of building, using factory-made components to cut costs and construction time, have been very slow to emerge. The West Herts Trust have been allowed to waste years on their absurd 260-foot high tower-block hospital, which will never fit Hospital 2.0;
• The Trust will struggle to find any company to build their big and expensive hospital because there is not enough capacity in the construction industry. The narrow, sloping site right up against a working hospital makes Watford an unattractive proposition for contractors.

The Committee is likely to publish a very negative report on the Government's programme, and the NHC criticism will certainly play into that.

The NHC report to Parliament is here

by philip

SIR MIKE BACKS CAMPAIGN CALL FOR REVIEW OF WATFORD PLANS

Hemel Hempstead MP Sir Mike Penning has backed New Hospital Campaign calls for a review by senior NHS officials of redevelopment plans for Watford General Hospital.

A scathing report by spending watchdog the National Audit Office has recently uncovered serious problems with the NHS's efforts to deliver 40 'new' hospitals, including  the proposed collection of tower blocks at Watford, by 2030.

In a letter to the Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB), which oversees the conduct of the West Herts Trust, Philip Aylett, NHC Co-ordinator, shows how the NAO report helps to undermine the Trust's case for Watford. Key issues include :

• Confusion over the amount of money needed to build the 260-foot Watford structure. The Trust have suggested it will take about £1.2 bn, but the NAO reveals that it could cost up to £2 bn;
• Concern that any new Watford building will be too small to serve the rapidly growing and ageing population of West Herts. The Trust is having to look again at its 'costs and scope' to make it fit within national guidelines;
• Lack of capacity in the construction industry. Few building companies will risk taking on massive projects like Watford General, where a severe and potentially contaminated slope alongside a busy existing emergency hospital makes the site very unattractive. That could mean higher costs and delay for the Trust's plans;
• Failure to consider alternatives that could offer better services for patients, and better value for money, which is a key factor for the spending watchdog.

Mr Aylett calls on the ICB to carry out 'a new review of possible sites for an emergency care and specialist hospital in West Hertfordshire.' That should include a new, independent and comprehensive review of potential clear, new accessible sites away from Vicarage Road.

Sir Mike has sent the NHC letter to Health Secretary Steve Barclay and West Herts Trust Chief Executive Matthew Coats, saying that he fully concurs with Mr Aylett's letter. Sir Mike continues:

'We have a great opportunity here to make sure that we have a hospital facility for the 21st and 22nd Century, and I urge all recipients of this letter to take the contents of it very seriously and treat it with the respect that it deserves'.

The NHC letter to the ICB is here.

by philip

NO WAY OF KNOWING WHY WATFORD WAS CHOSEN FOR A NEW HOSPITAL

Audit Office says no documented evidence for final selection of Watford General

The Government’s decision to choose Watford General for a new hospital was made without proper recorded evidence, according to the public spending watchdog.

In scathing comments on the list of sites for development under the New Hospital Programme, a new National Audit Office report says it cannot determine ‘whether there was an evidence-based process for selecting these schemes as opposed to others.’ (page 24)

The NAO says civil servants have admitted that ‘the final selection of [NHP] schemes involved choices and judgements for which no further documentation is available ...  there is no basis for us to determine why DHSC selected these schemes (page 22).

The Government’s failure to provide any explanation of why Watford General was chosen for the NHP rather than other sites - including clear new sites within West Hertfordshire - undermines the case for redevelopment there.

New Hospital Campaign Co-ordinator Philip Aylett said today:

“This is a devastating blow for the Trust. Neither they nor the Government have ever produced a shred of  objective evidence for choosing Watford General for a new building.

“We now know that the Government’s choice of Watford General for development was based not on reliable evidence but on ‘choices and judgements for which no further documentation is available’. It is absurd that the future of our hospitals for the next 60 years should rely on such feeble, secretive foundations.

“The Trust may claim that they have examined and rejected the case for an alternative to Watford General following the three-year-old ‘Site Feasibility Study’. But that's grossly misleading The SFS study report admitted that its judgements were ‘subjective’. The Government’s own spending rules make clear that investment decisions must only be made on credible objective evidence. This whole process has been riddled with subjectivity - bias - from the start“

The NAO report contains many other criticisms of the NHP process. The New Hospital Campaign will be publishing a fuller analysis of the NAO report in the next few days. Here is the New-hospital-programme-report.

by philip

BOTCHED WATFORD GENERAL PLANS MUST BE REVIEWED

A letter demanding an independent review of the West Herts Trust's botched plans for redeveloping Watford General Hospital has been sent to key health decision-makers.

The letter is jointly signed by Sir Mike Penning, the MP for Hemel Hempstead, and Philip Aylett, the Co-ordinator of the New Hospital Campaign. It has gone to Health Secretary Steve Barclay and the Integrated Care Board for Herts and West Essex.

The letter shows that Watford General is not a suitable site for redevelopment. It is extremely congested, inaccessible - and unpopular.

All options for the Vicarage Road site are unaffordable or offer very poor value for money - or both. Taxpayers will lose out if the Trust persist with their plans.

The Campaign believes a completely new emergency care and specialist hospital on a clear and accessible new central site would be the better way forward.

Public confidence in the Trust’s plans for redevelopment at Watford General is in doubt and political support is weak.

The letter calls for a fully independent review. This must allow for a genuine assessment of all options. The Trust should not conduct or even supervise the review, given its history of error and confusion over the project.

The full letter is below:

Final version

by philip

WHAT'S NEEDED FOR WEST HERTFORDSHIRE

• New state-of-the-art emergency care and specialist hospital, centrally located in the area and offering safe and good quality healthcare
• Working with other hospitals and health services in the area
• On a clear site that’s easy to get to
• Good public transport connections and affordable parking
• Zero carbon, in a green and healing environment
• Future-proof with room to expand

West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust insist that the redeveloped emergency care and specialist hospital must be at Watford General. But Watford General is the wrong site for the redeveloped hospital. That’s because new facilities at the Vicarage Road site would be:

• Squeezed into a densely-packed urban area with congested roads and poor public transport links
• Some way down busy roads from major centres of local population such as Hemel Hempstead and St Albans
• On a sloping site with difficult access
• Massively disruptive during many years of construction, as the main work would happen just a few metres from the existing operational hospital
• At the centre of what is planned to be Watford’s largest new housing estate, with up to 1500 flats and houses being built very close by – a recipe for even more disturbance during construction and even worse traffic congestion for ever

This is not a healing environment.

by leeh

WATFORD'S SHADY NEW HOSPITAL - PATIENTS FACE DARK FUTURE IN THE VICARAGE ROAD TRIPLE TOWERS

TRUST DIAGRAM SHOWS HOW LITTLE LIGHT WILL PENETRATE TO WARDS IN 260-FOOT BUILDING

Patients in Watford General’s planned new tower-block hospital face a gloomy outlook, with many wards in shade for most of the time.

A shocking computer diagram (above), produced by the West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, reveals how the design of the planned 260-foot hospital will severely restrict sunlight and views for patients and staff. The problem will be severe even in June, the sunniest month.

The New Hospital Campaign have accused the new hospital, costing at least £1.1 bn, of being a ‘clinical carbuncle’ which would do nothing for health or wellbeing.

The new facility will suffer from serious defects:

• Deep dark courtyards will be surrounded by monolithic buildings of up to 16 storeys on all four sides;
• The new facility’s three tower blocks, the tallest about 260 feet high, will be just 15 metres apart;
• Blinds in wards will be needed to preserve the privacy and dignity of patients – a recipe for even more shade.

And the layout of the building will make things worse. Squashed on to a plot that is just half the size of the existing hospital, Watford General’s three towers are to face each other in a parallel row. Many wards and other rooms will directly face each other.

Watford General’s closely-packed hospital towers won't meet the minimal spacing standards demanded by Watford Borough Council for ordinary residential buildings.

Philip Aylett, Co-ordinator of the New Hospital Campaign, said today:

“The West Herts Trust seem bent on creating in this Hertfordshire town something usually seen only in dim corners of the City of London, where greed and property prices dictate close packing of office blocks.

"The  Trust have abjectly failed to come up with an attractive or effective design. The Trust are creating a clinical carbuncle which will do nothing for health and wellbeing – and the people of West Herts will be stuck with it for 60 years.

“Only for a brief period around noon in the summer will there be much natural light for most patients.

“Terrible for patients and staff. Terrible for the taxpayer.”

by leeh