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

by philip

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

by philip

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/

 

by philip

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

by philip

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

by philip

NHS and Council keep public in dark about Hospital closure plan

  • Key Council committee to push forward on Monday with Hemel Hospital closure plan
  • Crucial information hidden from public as plans for substitute Market Square Hub to be approved by Dacorum Health and Wellbeing Committee
  • Council claim secrecy about future of our health services is in 'public interest'
  • This is just some of the vital information the NHS and Council are keeping from us:
  • Costs of Market Square Hub v costs of developing current site
  • Independent report on local services Hospital that rated the Market Square the WORST site
  • Where 440 more cars will park if the Hub is built on the Market Square
  • These are the papers for the 3 November meeting (see page 4):
  • https://democracy.dacorum.gov.uk/documents/g4190/Public%20reports%20pack%2003rd-Nov-2025%2019.30%20Health%20and%20Wellbeing%20Committee.pdf?T=10

 

 

 

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

Cemetery area more suitable than Market Square for hospital site

  • The last independent rating of possible hospital sites in Dacorum ranked the Market Square site NINTH
  • In a detailed expert analysis in 2018, the tiny site - now being heavily promoted by Dacorum Council for a Health Hub -  was BEATEN BY FOUR OPTIONS on the current Hemel Hospital site and four other possible sites, including ones:
  • In the Maylands Avenue industrial area of Hemel
  • Next to Hemel's Woodwells Cemetery
  • Using the site of the former Dacorum Borough Council offices in the Marlowes
  • The experts said that the Market Square rated a score of just 8 out of 16 on efficiency, economic benefit and other scores.
  • The Market Square was even soundly beaten by the cemetery area option, which got 11 out of 16

by philip

Mystery of missing Market Square evidence deepens

  • Two crucial expert reports - showing that the Hemel Market Square is not a suitable site for developing a hospital - have gone missing from BOTH the NHS and Dacorum Council
  • In 2018, independent experts rated a large number of possible sites for a local hospital for Dacorum. The Market Square was placed 8th out of 8 in that process
  • In a stunning U-turn, the NHS and Council have been pushing for a Hub to be built on the Market Square to replace the current Hemel Hospital - claiming it is their 'preferred way forward'
  • The NHS have already said that 'Following reasonable searches, we can confirm that  [it] does not hold' the 2018 reports
  • Now Dacorum Borough Council says that it does not have the 2018 reports either.
  • What could have happened to them?

by philip

MPs and councillors discuss Hospital closure - behind closed doors

  • On Friday local MPs and councillors will privately meet officials to hear more about the closure of Hemel Hospital
  • There has been no announcement of the meeting, its agenda or the invitees
  • Will private sector representatives from the Dacorum Investment Partnership be at the meeting, for instance?
  • David Taylor MP (Hemel) and Victoria Collins MP (Harpenden and Berkhamsted) have been invited, we understand
  • Neither MP turned up at public meetings about the plans to replace the Hospital with a Hub
  • But at least Victoria Collins has asked DHAG to suggest issues to raise in Friday's meeting
  • We hope she will ask about possible private finance and the poor rating given to the Market Square site in the past 
  • We also hope there will be ANSWERS that the MPs and councillors will share with those who elected them

by philip