Council admits we had no say in Hospital closure decision - full letter
- Attached is the full response by a Dacorum Council officer to an FOI request about consultation on the closure of Hemel Hospital
- It makes clear that:
- The 'engagement' public sessions held earlier this year were ONLY to 'gather views on the overall vision and model of care'.
- So the decision to clear the Hospital site and build a Market Square Hub instead was taken WITHOUT PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
- The size of the main NHS facility in Dacorum will be reduced from 18 acres to just 1.3 acres
- This will severely limit future development of local healthcare facilities for the 160,000 people of Dacorum
- There will be no further work on any other option.
- The current Hemel Hospital site will be available for 450 or more flats.
- The Council claims that ANY public discussion of the factors behind the closure decision would be against its 'commercial interests'
Council admits public had NO SAY in Hospital closure decision
- Dacorum Council ADMIT public were deliberately cut out of decision on Hemel Hospital closure
- They say 'Engagement' public sessions in the summer were just to 'gather views on the overall vision'
- This makes clear that the Prime Minister's promise (to David Taylor MP) of public consultation has been ignored
- Decision to make the closure the 'preferred way forward' was taken in private in May 2025 by UNELECTED Council and NHS bureaucrats, the 'Joint Strategic Board'.
- The final decision to replace the Hospital with a Hub was confirmed in 'private session' of some councillors last month.
- The Council said in an FOI response last week that
- The purpose of the ['engagement'] sessions was to gather views on the overall vision and model of care, rather than to consult formally on a single preferred site.
Has the NHS had second thoughts over Hemel Hospital closure?
- Has the NHS got cold feet over Hemel Hospital closure?
- Closure plan was not on the agenda at key NHS meeting last week
- The closure plan for Hemel Hospital was originally down for approval by the regional NHS ICB Board meeting which took place on 28 November.
- This would be a crucial step towards the shuttering of the 200-year-old institution
- BUT THE PLAN FOR THE DEMOLITION OF THE HOSPITAL AND ITS REPLACEMENT BY A MARKET SQUARE HUB OR 'NEIGHBOURHOOD' HEALTH CENTRE WAS NOT ON THE AGENDA AS PUBLISHED
- Has the NHS decided to rethink its plan to turn Hemel and Dacorum into a neighbourhood?
- OR - WAS THE CRUCIAL DECISION TAKEN IN SECRECY (PART TWO OF THE MEETING) AND NOT MADE PUBLIC?
- Dacorum Health Action Group has put in a Freedom of Information request to find out what happened
Council says 'commercial interests' mean reasons for Hospital closure must remain hidden
- Real reasons for Hospital closure decision kept secret to protect 'commercial interests' of West Herts Trust and Dacorum Council
- A member of Dacorum Health Action Group has been REFUSED answers to an FOI request about why the Council wants the Hospital is to be closed
- Official claimed reasons behind Hemel Hospital closure decision must be kept secret by Dacorum councillors 'as disclosure would be prejudicial to the commercial interests of the Council and its partners.'
- This information 'remains commercially sensitive and cannot be shared' according to the official
- Council response said: 'Option 4 - Market Square - was identified as the preferred way forward because of:
- the site’s ease of access,
- its alignment with the neighbourhood model of care,
- and its potential to support the future regeneration of the town centre.
- Nonsense ....
- The Market Square was rated JOINT NINTH out of ten options in the last independent expert survey on similar measures
- WHAT LIES BEHIND THIS NHS AND COUNCIL SECRECY?
- WHY ARE OUR COUNCILLORS SO KEEN TO SHUT OUR HOSPITAL WITHOUT TELLING US WHY?
Revealed - experts backed new building on Hemel Hospital site
- Report by three top independent firms backed state-of-the-art new local hospital building on Hemel Hospital site
- Expert report written the last time Hemel's hospital future was considered, between 2016 and 2018.
- At that time, Council and NHS rated Market Square site joint NINTH OUT OF TEN options
- Dacorum Council and NHS may have deleted or destroyed the expert report, which they helped to pay for - they claim they don't have it
- BUT PARTS OF THE EXPERT REPORT HAVE NOW BEEN HANDED TO DACORUM HEALTH ACTION GROUP
- Report assesses the site for a local hospital with services very similar to the planned 'Hemel Health Campus'
- Priorities would be prevention, integration and care closer to home
- Experts said the 'optimum proposal' for a new local hospital on the current site was on the northwestern edge, because it:
- Was 'Close to the town centre'
- 'Allows for sufficient parking and easy access from King Harry Street and Hillfield Road'
- Was 'flexible to meet future demands and new services'
- 'Optimises the value of the [current Hospital] land'
- The report assumed the rest of the current Hospital site would be used for housing to meet Government targets, and a school
No discussion as NHS bosses confirm Hemel Hospital closure decision
- West Herts NHS Trust bosses confirmed yesterday that they will seek the closure of Hemel Hospital and its replacement with a Market Square Hub
- There was NO DISCUSSION at the Trust Board meeting which in a few minutes approved a business case for the £134.8m project
- The only public information was in 15 slides with no financial figures and no details on options such as the use of the current site
- The promotional 'engagement' sessions did not discuss options and provided no financial information on the Hub
- Just over three years ago, the same Trust provided 183 pages of background information on the various options for Watford General, including full and detailed responses from the public
- THE TRUST TAKE WATFORD SERIOUSLY. WHEN IT COMES TO DACORUM, THEY ARE JUST PR PEOPLE. DACORUM COUNCIL ARE SUPPORTING THEM IN THEIR COVER UP.
- These are the May 2022 West Herts Trust board papers on the Watford General project (pages 7 to 190):
- https://www.westhertshospitals.nhs.uk/application/files/7117/3677/6007/May_2022_board_papers2.pdf
We are consulted on waste recycling centres - but not on the Hospital
- Herts County Council are consulting the public on changes to the way waste recycling centres are run
- A range of options are available for the public to say which policy they favour
- BUT DACORUM AND THE NHS ARE GOING AHEAD WITH THE CLOSURE OF HEMEL HOSPITAL - WITHOUT CONSULTATION
- Keir Starmer promised David Taylor MP in June that there would be public consultation
- But the authorities decided to ignore the PM's pledge and move to closure
- No options are offered beyond the cramped and expensive Hub on Market Square
- The promotional material for the Hub on the Dacorum website gives the game away:
- "we’ll be seeking your feedback and thoughts on the health campus to shape our thinking and approach – and would value your views on this option. This will then be considered against other alternatives in the Strategic Outline Case."
- This is the arrogant policy of TAKE OR LEAVE IT
Hemel Hospital - the great options they don't want you to see
- The NHS worked on two options for a new build local hospital on the current site, within easy reach of big stores Asda and Iceland
- They would be new like the Hub - but on a site that offers the chance for good parking
- The NHS and Council want you to forget them because they are committed to the Market Square Hub
- The two new build options for the current site had good ratings in the last independent expert assessment, in 2018:
a. A stand-alone new hospital (hub) located in the northwest part of the site. Demolish Cheere House and Tudor buildings and construct a three-storey compact
rectangular shape facility. Car parking is decked to meet the requirement. THAT WAS GIVEN 13 OUT OF 16 MARKS
b. A stand-alone new hospital (hub) located in the northeast part of the site. Demolish Windsor building and construct a three storey L shaped building at the northern
border. Car parking is decked to meet the requirement. THAT WAS GIVEN 12 OUT OF 16 MARKS
- And the Market Square option?- the experts gave that just 8 OUT OF 16
- And this is key - the independent site ratings assumed a very similar local hospital to the one being considered now.
- Why do the authorities keep pushing the ninth-rate Market Square when there are much better options for a new hospital -that would also allow homes to be built on the rest of the site?
- This is the post with the information on the last independent expert assessment:
- https://dhag.org.uk/news-updates/market-square-was-rejected-as-hospital-site-by-nhs/
Revealed - Hemel Hub to cost nearly £135 million
- The Market Square Hemel Health Hub will cost £134.8 million to build, according to new West Herts Trust papers
- The Hub will cost £7 million a year to run, offset by annual savings of £4.2m (eg new buildings save on maintenance costs)
- This is a big investment in Hemel, as forecast by the Council.
- But why spend it on a cramped site with no room to expand?
- Here are the Trust papers (see the second report in Item 6.3) :
- November_2025_board_papers
Council confusion over housing targets - why must Hemel Hospital close?
- Does Dacorum Council really need to demolish Hemel Hospital to make way for more housing?
- The Council claims 450 homes should be built on the site, as part of an effort across the Borough to meet Government housebuilding targets
- But, in a scathing report on Council planning, official inspectors have demanded the Council explain its figures on the numbers of homes needed across the Borough
- In particular they attack the Council for failing to provide 'clear and consolidated evidence which sets out the reasons and the judgements that have resulted in the [housing] site allocations contained in the submitted Local Plan.'
- The inspectors say it is 'unclear ... what processes the Council followed to decide which sites should be allocated [for housing] and the reasons why.'
- Dacorum's confusion over housing sites raises an awkward question for the Council:
- WHY SHOULD ANYONE LISTEN TO YOU WHEN YOU CLAIM THE HOSPITAL SHOULD GO TO MAKE WAY FOR MORE FLATS AND HOUSES?
- The Inspectors' letter is below:
- Local Plan Inspectorate's First Response