First birthday for PM's broken Hospital closure pledge

  • This week it will be a year since the Prime Minister promised there would be 'public consultation' on the Hemel Health Campus or Hub.
  • The Hub would replace the town's Hospital, which would close
  • On 4 June 2025 Sir Keir explicitly told Hemel MP David Taylor in the Commons that 'The proposals for the health campus will be open to public consultation.'
  • The authorities have failed to deliver on this clear promise
  • There has been NO public consultation
  • There were some public 'engagement' sessions last year 
  • But the public were not told of the full list of possible Hub locations in the 'engagement' process
  • Proper Government consultations have to follow a set of published principles.
  • One key principle is that public bodies should 'Give enough information to ensure that those consulted understand the
    issues and can give informed responses.'
  • The Dacorum Borough Council webpage on the Hub was last updated NEARLY SIX MONTHS AGO, on 18 December 2025.
  • The Government's Consultation Principles are below:
  • Consultation_principles_

by philip

NHS bosses get closer to their dream of demolishing Hospital

  • Hemel Hospital's oldest building has been declared unsafe
  • This is a further step in the long-term campaign by NHS bosses and Dacorum Council to close our Hospital
  • Cheere House, built in 1832, is now cordoned off and surrounded by notices dubbing it an 'unsafe structure'
  • The notices say KEEP OUT
  • This is the latest result of years of planned neglect by authorities bent on depriving Hemel of its Hospital
  • The aim is to sell the land
  • NHS bosses want developers to cover the Hospital site with around FOURTEEN flat blocks
  • Several quite modern buildings would be bulldozed, as well as old ones

by philip

MPs must demand answers on Hemel Hospital cuts

  • Why is Hemel Hospital the poor relation in the local NHS?
  • New figures show that Hemel Hospital has nearly 100 fewer outpatient appointments per day than St Albans Hospital
  • And nursing staff numbers at Hemel are to be cut back in a £271,000 switch to St Albans
  • Dacorum MPs are being urged to demand answers on this latest twist in the decline of Hemel Hospital under West Herts Trust
  • DHAG Chair Philip Aylett has written to MPs Victoria Collins, Gagan Mohindra and David Taylor
  • Dr Aylett urges the MPs to press the NHS on why Hemel Hospital has only 125 outpatient appointments a day 
  • St Albans Hospital has 224 a day on average, and Watford General has between 160 and 170
  • Dr Aylett's letter says that, for Dacorum people, 'This is pushing care further away from home – exactly the opposite of what should be happening.'
  • The letter to MPs is here:
  • Letter to MPs 23 May

by philip

Hospital closure plan - still no consultation

  • Dacorum Council and NHS bosses STILL haven't delivered on the PM's pledge of public consultation on the closure of Hemel Hospital
  • And now they are even failing to provide the promised 'Public Engagement for 2026' on plans for a substitute 'health centre' Hub in the small Market Square
  • The Council and NHS bosses claim on the Hub webpage:
  • We want to hear feedback from patients, carers, staff and other stakeholders, as part of our decision-making process..
  • 'We will continue to keep all stakeholders informed and involved as we move through the formal stages of ‘Strategic Outline Case’ to ‘Outline Business Case’ in 2026.
  • NONSENSE - There has been NO RECENT INVOLVEMENT and NO INFORMATION about the details of the Market Square Hub plan
  • The Hub webpage has not been updated since December 2025
  • Key details have been hidden when we have the right to know
  • THE AUTHORITIES ARE NOT LISTENING

by philip

Hemel the NHS's poor relation as St Albans powers ahead

  • St Albans Hospital gets major new hospital services
  • Trust CEO listed them last week:
  • New Community Diagnostic Centre opened in April
  • Surgical Hub will open in June 2026.
  • Development starts on new Endoscopy Unit
  • Continuing the design and development of a new Urology Centre.
  • Meanwhile Hemel Hospital faces nursing staff cuts and eventual demolition
  • 'Replacement' Health Campus will be a 'health centre' serving Hemel town only
  • Local access to hospital services is being reduced as our population ages and grows
  • WHY SHOULD DACORUM PATIENTS BE THE ONES TO TRAVEL FOR CARE?
  • WHY SHOULD HERTFORDSHIRE'S BIGGEST BOROUGH BE THE NHS'S POOR RELATION ?

by philip

Fewer nurses planned for Hemel Outpatients as rundown continues

  • NHS bosses are planning cuts to nursing and support staff numbers at Hemel Hospital Outpatients department
  • This would be the latest stage in the rundown of the Hospital by the West Herts Trust
  • A Trust Board paper last week claimed that 'service demand' for outpatients at Hemel was well below that at other Hospitals
  • The average number of appointments per day at Hemel was 125, against 224 for St Albans and 160-170 for Watford General
  • The Hemel figure represents 'a significant reduction against planned volumes' the paper says 
  • Even with a 5% increase in demand, Hemel will have 'continued surplus capacity', it claims
  • The Trust says this is 'an opportunity for workforce realignment' to the benefit of St Albans 
  • It looks likely that Hemel outpatients will be left with just 13.48 whole time equivalent (wte) nursing and clinical support staff
  • There would be 24.99 wte for St Albans and 21.46 for Watford General
  • The Hemel staff cuts would produce a saving of £271,000 per year 

by philip

NHS bosses in building safety cover-up

  • West Herts Trust bosses have refused to come clean on the progress - or otherwise - of crucial safety works on our local hospitals
  • This follows an independent ‘Six Facet Survey’ carried out over two years ago that revealed many problems with the condition and maintenance of buildings at Watford, St Albans and Hemel Hospitals
  • Scores of serious problems were given a 'C' rating in early 2024 - meaning ‘major repair or replacement is currently needed’.
  • Examples of such critical conditions  in just one building - Watford General’s Women and Children’s block - included problems with:
  • Ventilation systems
  • Coolers and chilling systems
  • Control panels in the lifts
  • Electrical switchgear and wiring
  • Fuel supply, storage and distribution in the energy centre
  • CCTV systems
  • Internal drainage
  • A member of DHAG – the Dacorum Health Action Group – asked the Trust for an update and timetable of specific actions taken to put right the worst problems
  • But Trust bureaucrats refused to provide the information requested, saying only they 'keep estate-related risks under continual review'
  • They claim to have 'robust mitigation plans in place' - but provided no details 
  • They also turned down the member's request to raise the safety issue with the Trust Board at its meeting last week

by philip

Hospital site could be part of near-1000-home estate as Government housing targets bite

  • Nearly 1000 new homes could be built on the Hemel Hospital site and in the next-door Paradise area 
  • Government housing targets are encouraging more residential development in Dacorum
  • In October 2024, the Council said in Cabinet papers that it  would aim for 15,332 new homes in the Borough by 2041.
  • And earlier this year Dacorum Investment Partnership (DIP) claimed the Borough required 'over 17,270 new homes' by 2041.
  • DIP is a decision-sharing collaboration between housebuilders Hill Group and Dacorum Council
  • Recently the local NHS proposed that a total of 639 homes should be built on the Hospital site - 189 more than previous plans
  • That would mean complete demolition of the Hospital
  • Some or all of the services remaining at the Hospital would be moved to two floors or so in a Market Square health centre
  • The Paradise area, which adjoins the Hospital site, is separately planned to have over 300 new homes by 2041. 
  • The Dacorum Local Plan says that 'Tall buildings of up to 8 storeys' could be acceptable in Paradise if 'they have been identified
    within the Paradise Design Code'
  • The two developments together could create a new estate of nearly 1000 homes. 
  • Below is the DIP document which refers to the higher housing target (see page 4)
  • dacorum-investment-plan-2026

by philip

Berko, Tring and Villages to lose out in Hospital closure

  • The Market Square Health health centre Hub is only intended to serve the town of Hemel
  • NHS bosses and Dacorum councillors plan the Hub as a 'replacement' for the Hospital they want to close
  • Dacorum Council's Local Plan says the Hub will provide 'hospital and other specialist facilities that serve the wider needs of the town [Hemel]'
  • The hospital needs of the rest of the Borough, including Berkhamsted, Tring and Dacorum villages are not mentioned.
  • And the Council's Plan also allows for the continued rundown by  NHS bosses of hospital services at Hemel
  • It says: 'When delivered, [the Market Square Hub]  will likely replace much of the remaining facilities on the existing hospital site'
  • The key word there is 'remaining'
  • This means that services LEFT OVER at the Hospital at the time when the Hub is completed - possibly the early 2030s - would be transferred to the Hub
  • Over the years there have been regular decreases in the scope of services available at Hemel Hospital. 
  • So there is no guarantee that the range of services NOW available at the Hospital will move across to the Hub

The recent Local Plan is here (search for 'hospital'):

6c51ee038c5a2ec1d736d333886c12a3_Dacorum_Local_Plan_to_2041

 

 

 

by philip

Civic Centre site to see 180 new homes as Hospital closure plans take shape

  • 180 flats/houses are to be built on the former Civic Centre site by April 2031
  • This is part of plans by Housebuilders Hill Group and Dacorum Council for at least 1500 new town centre homes 
  • Hill Group and the Council are collaborating in the Dacorum Investment Partnership (DIP)
  • The NHS is now pushing for 639 flats/houses on the site of the Hospital after it is closed and demolished
  • The Hospital's services will be moved to two floors of a planned new 'neighbourhood health centre' Hub on Market Square
  • Community health services will be housed on one floor of the health centre, which received the backing of regional NHS bosses recently
  • The Water Gardens car parks are to be the site of affordable housing and other development
  • DIP has been asked to come up with plans for the hundreds of extra car spaces that will be needed for the Hub
  • These are almost certain to be on extra layers of the Water Gardens North Car Park. 
  • The plans of DIP are set out in this Investment Plan (see especially pages 14-17 and page 22)
  • dacorum-investment-plan-2026

by philip