NEW HOSPITAL CAMPAIGN TRUST TO REVIEW NEW HOSPITAL SITE OPTIONS5 April 2022 REVIEW OF DECISION TO BUILD AT WATFORD GENERAL AS TRUST BOW TO PRESSURE Opposition to plans to redevelop Watford General has forced West Herts Trust to agree to review their decision. Amid signs that support for the Trust’s proposals among key local councils is crumbling, the Trust say they will be taking a ‘fresh eyes approach’ to the decision at a Board meeting on 31 May. The U-turn follows a February meeting at which local health group the New Hospital Campaign (NHC) and others put their case for a new hospital on a clear and accessible central site to Health Secretary Sajid Javid. In a letter sent today to Phil Townsend, the Trust Board Chair, NHC Co-ordinator Philip Aylett says: ‘I am glad that you and your colleagues are, at last, now apparently prepared to challenge officials to justify their approach. ‘The imminent departures of both the CEO and Deputy CEO, the present hiatus in the New Hospital Programme, the Secretary of State’s consideration of the evidence presented to him by the NHC and, maybe, some of the NHS failings we have heard about recently, all offer the Board a convenient and valuable opportunity to re-set.’ The NHC today sent the Trust their contribution to the review - the detailed submission the Campaign made to the Secretary of State following the meeting with him in February. That recommended that an independent expert body should be commissioned ‘to carry out a full review of options for acute redevelopment in West Hertfordshire. This review should include options for a clear site.’ To read the full press release click here Click here for the letter sent today to Phil Townsend, West Herts Hospital Trust Chairman For our full submission to Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Health, click here ... Read more...WEST HERTS NEEDS A TRULY NEW HOSPITAL24 February 2022 WHY WATFORD GENERAL WON’T WORK - NHC Update February 2022 This update on hospital redevelopment in West Hertfordshire comes from the New Hospital Campaign (NHC), which is calling on the Government and the NHS to locate a new emergency care hospital for the area on a clear central site. West Hertfordshire has been promised funding as one of the first of the new hospitals in the Government’s programme, but it’s vital that this investment is made in the right place. An emergency care hospital should be accessible to everyone across West Herts, offering a healing environment and providing value for money. A hospital on a new site, convenient for all, could provide: A good environment for care, with buildings on a human scale, decent landscaping and room to expand as our population grows Convenient, easy parking, especially for people with mobility problems Planned access by road and public transport from all of the area Buildings that help achieve zero carbon, are suited to new technology, and offer single rooms for privacy and infection control Speed of construction, as building can go on without interruption or disruption There are several possibilities for clear new sites, easily accessible from everywhere in the area, but none has yet been properly assessed by the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust (West Herts Trust), who continue to insist that new hospital facilities must be located at or around Watford General Hospital. The NHC case was put to the Health and Social Care Secretary, Sajid Javid, on 7 February, when representatives from the Campaign took part in a delegation led by Sir Mike Penning MP. We look forward to positive results from that meeting. Refusal to consider alternatives The West Herts Trust say that redevelopment must take place at and around the increasingly cramped current site of Watford General in Vicarage Road. They constantly manipulate the facts to support this view. They did not, for instance, properly assess the risks of redeveloping at Watford General before the decision was taken to reject all new site options in favour of Watford in October 2020. This was a serious error. But other trusts are taking a different route The West Herts Trust’s attitude is baffling: in nearby Harlow the Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust, faced with the same choice of blundering on with redeveloping an existing, cramped town centre site or building anew on a clear ‘out-of-town’ site, have chosen the new site. The Harlow Trust have analysed the evidence for a hospital on a clear site, and concluded it would be built much faster and more cheaply and give far better results for patients. The huge flaws in the West Herts Trust’s plans West Herts NHS Trust stubbornly refuse to admit that WATFORD GENERAL WON’T WORK. That refusal to look at alternatives flies in the face of common sense and is – unsurprisingly – creating a number of critical problems. Lack of space is one of the biggest difficulties for their Watford plans. The Trust are trying to fit a 1000-bed new hospital facility into a plot that is half the size of the current one. It’s a mystery why the Trust have given up so much of their land. But the answer may lie in the murky depths of the so-called Watford Health Campus, an agreement under which developers and Watford Council have been planning large amounts of residential and other development on and around the current hospital site. Squeezed into a small space, the Trust have had to plan to build high. The Trust’s current proposals would see demolition of most existing buildings at Watford and the building of three tall towers, the biggest 270 feet high – making it the tallest NHS building outside central London. It would of course look ridiculous among the (mostly) two-storey houses of West Watford. Furthermore, if the unthinkable were to happen, local fire services are not adequately equipped to deal with a fire in a building more than 150 feet high. The Trust have also known for nearly a year that these towers would break the budget – it would cost over £900m to build and equip the three towers as designed. The money simply isn’t there from the Treasury for what the Trust plan to do. So the Trust will have to curb their enthusiasm for their towering infirmary. But redeveloping at Watford General in other ways would almost certainly mean having to retain and refurbish the existing buildings - which are in a desperate state. Over three years ago, an expert survey of the condition of the Watford General buildings concluded: Almost all of the buildings were in an unsatisfactory condition and not ‘functionally suitable’ The site services infrastructure - including electrical, steam heating system and hot water - was at the end of its life It would cost at least £240 million to catch up with the maintenance backlog The situation has got worse since that survey was done – there are over 1000 maintenance call-outs a month at Watford. But any redeveloped or new facilities at Watford General would suffer other serious problems: A poor environment – there will be serious overdevelopment of the constrained site around Watford General, with a total of 1500 flats and houses, a hotel, a school and industrial units either built or planned The likely move of the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre to the Watford General site will add further congestion The Watford site is mostly steeply sloping, and there are pollution and flooding problems that have not been properly investigated. That makes development expensive and subject to many risks The construction noise, dust and pollution just a few metres away will disrupt the lives of patients and staff at the existing Watford hospital for many years - probably for the rest of the decade The expense needed to redevelop Watford would deprive the Trust’s other hospitals, at Hemel Hempstead and St Albans, of much-needed investment. Already poor access will get worse as car park places are cut and the site’s overdevelopment increases traffic. Greener travel is vital, but the Watford General car park spaces are being reduced immediately – with no funded plans in place for alternative means of transport in the near future Travelling to Watford from Hemel Hempstead, St Albans and elsewhere across West Herts is bad enough now – it will only get much worse. The Trust seem to have run out of Watford redevelopment options that would be good for patients, as well as being both affordable and providing value for money. They are struggling to produce a preferred option - that is months away from being decided. 2022 MUST BE THE YEAR THE TRUST TURN TO PRACTICAL ALTERNATIVES TO THEIR FAILING WATFORD PLANS There are a number of realistic possible alternatives to the Trust's faltering and delayed plans for Watford. These would see an easily-accessible emergency care hospital on a clear new site, combining with vibrant local hospitals to serve the whole community of West Hertfordshire. This would not have to re-invent the wheel - there are elements of the Trust's existing plans which could be adapted to fit with an emergency care hospital on a new central, out-of-town site. All that is needed is a rational approach which moves away from the Trust's obsessive determination to redevelop emergency care at Watford General. The Trust should now reconsider their decision to reject new site options for an emergency care hospital. They need to commission a proper independent study of all the alternatives, this time based on credible evidence. The New Hospital Campaign is a collaboration between Dacorum Health Action Group, Dacorum Patients Group, and campaigners from Berkhamsted and St. Albans to share ideas and strategies to fight specifically for a new A&E hospital for West Herts in a more central location. *Journalists and members of the media, please click here for our full press release... Read more...NHC meets with Health Secretary Sajid Javid11 February 2022NHC call on Trust to seek new bids for greenfield sites after Health Secretary meeting Health Secretary Sajid Javid is to look into the West Herts Trust decision to redevelop Watford General. This heartening progress on the saga came after a face-to-face meeting including NHC campaigners in Mr Javid's House of Commons office. The Campaign today called on the Trust to look again at all the four new clear greenfield sites wrongly rejected in 2020 - and to invite new bids to make sure patients and taxpayers get the best deal. NHC Co-ordinator Philip Aylett and building expert Bob Scott were part of a delegation led by Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning. Bob pointed out the dire conditions at Watford, with buildings in a bad state of repair and services not fit for purpose. But the Trust's plans for a budget-busting 17-storey triple tower hospital on the severely sloping site won't work either. Philip explained that Watford General was inaccessible and unpopular, and showed Sajid that the decision to reject all clear new sites was based on flimsy, incomplete and 'subjective' evidence that shouldn't have been used and won't wash with the Treasury. He called on the Trust to carry out a search for new clear greenfield sites that could be better than Watford and offer more than any current greenfield proposals. To read the full press release issued by Mike Penning click here... Read more...The Future Of Our Hospitals: Your Views25 November 2021Virtual Public Meeting on Zoom, 8th December 2021 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm We are inviting residents of West Hertfordshire (Hertsmere, Three Rivers, Dacorum, Watford Borough, St. Albans District) to let us know your ideas on improving hospital services for all of us in West Herts. The New Hospital Campaign is holding this virtual public meeting on how best to develop the area's hospitals. All views are welcome- whether you support acute development at Watford General or want a different solution. Our Zoom account is limited so please contact NHC coordinator, Philip Aylett, on philip.aylett@gmail.com to get the link. Virtual places are offered first come, first served. We hope to record the meeting but will only do so if everyone agrees to be recorded. If you aren't able to join us on the day, but would like to share your views please email dhag.org.uk@gmail.com detailing your view.... Read more...FLOOD RISK WORK HAMPERED BY STAFF SHORTAGES15 November 2021The system for managing flood risks in Hertfordshire is in trouble. ‘Severe’ staff shortages have forced Hertfordshire County Council’s flood planning risk experts to admit they are ‘unable to take on any new work except in the most exceptional of circumstances’. And the Environment Agency admits it often can’t meet crucial consultation deadlines on Hertfordshire planning applications. In an astonishing email, the County Council says that ‘for most planning applications will be unable to provide any comments’ on flood risks from new developments. Who is checking on the flood risk at Watford General? Doubts about the effectiveness of the system are surfacing even in relation to major projects that could cause severe flooding. One example is the highly controversial high-rise hospital planned for Watford by the West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust. When the Trust was given outline planning permission by Watford Council for the 1000-bed 120,000 square metre building in July 2021, a series of crucial questions about flood risk and management put by the County Council were left unanswered. But serious flooding could undermine the viability of the whole project, one of the biggest in the whole programme of new hospitals. The blue light approach to the hospital has been badly affected by flooding. Among other things, the Council demanded that the Trust should reduce the planned final discharge rate of surface water from the hospital site by a whopping 75 percent, and asked it to explain how it would manage the increased surface water runoff from the site. The new hospital would be squeezed in as part of the ‘Riverwell’ development, which will see up to 1500 flats and houses, retail units, industrial buildings and a hotel added to a sloping site in crowded West Watford – an increasingly ambitious project, in itself presenting a raised risk of flooding. West Herts situation beggars belief Philip Aylett, Co-ordinator of the New Hospital Campaign, which supports the idea of a new hospital on a clear new site accessible to all in West Herts, said: “The situation in West Hertfordshire beggars belief. Planning permission has been given to a massive hospital project on Vicarage Road, Watford with serious questions about flood risks left unanswered. The Trust’s plans for such a huge structure should never have been given the green light, in view of the uncertainty over flood risk." For the full details and analysis into this critical matter, please click HERE for the full article.... Read more...PATIENTS LOSING OUT TO DEVELOPMENT IN KEY ‘NEW’ HOSPITAL PROJECT13 October 2021A new report by the New Hospital Campaign reveals how a complex web of commercial land deals and management indecision have left plans for Watford General - one of the first ‘Pathfinder’ wave of Government’s new hospitals - in disarray. Building delays have increased and projected costs have run out of control. Crucially, the report shows that the West Hertfordshire NHS Trust has allowed political and commercial pressures to over-ride patients’ interests. Work to redevelop emergency care facilities at the crumbling Watford General Hospital should have been completed by 2025, but now it looks as if it could take until 2030. The Campaign, which argues that a new emergency care hospital on a clear central site would be best for West Hertfordshire, describes the Trust’s involvement in long-standing agreements with developers Kier Property and Watford Borough Council. It shows that the Trust: Failed to move quickly enough between about 2013 and 2017 to make use of the opportunity to expand the Hospital onto nearby land; Since then, the Trust has allowed the increasingly intrusive development of up to 1000 ‘residential units’ and commercial buildings very close to the existing Hospital, to the potential detriment of patients. Watford’s proposed new hospital facility will now be forced onto half the area of the current Hospital. The full press release can be read here. The full report can be read here, with a summary document here. News About Watford Health Campus, published by Watford Borough Council in 2012-13, is here. The Campus Agreement is here and the Collaboration Agreement between the Trust and Kier is here... Read more...BILL FOR WATFORD HOSPITAL TOWERS OVER £900 MILLION13 August 2021The cost of the planned 17-storey triple-tower block hospital for Watford General Hospital has soared to at least £900 million, according to expert calculations released today. The West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust is persisting with the unaffordable high-rise plans despite clear instructions from the Government to cut back.Building experts from the New Hospital Campaign (NHC) point out that the Trust risks wasting £8 million in fees on the scheme, which is the Trust’s ‘preferred option’ but now has no real chance of being built. A new build hospital, on a clear central site, would cost significantly less to build as there would be no requirement to build such tall buildings. It could be built much faster too, reducing costs even further.The plans for the UK’s tallest hospital outside central London, have increased by 50 percent in less than a year. Today they were described as ‘very expensive pie in the sky’. To read our full press release click HERE... Read more...WATFORD COUNCIL APPROVE ‘PIE IN THE SKY’ PLANS FOR HIGH-RISE HOSPITAL29 July 2021Watford borough council have approved an outline planning application for the re-furbishment of Watford General Hospital. The plans are for 3 high-rise buildings to occupy the current hospital site. The New Hospital Campaingers believe that this is the wrong scheme in the wrong place and at 270 feet, this will be tallest NHS building outside London. In a densely populated suburban town, this will stick out like a sore thumb. Costs are expected to be over £900 million, which would mean financial ruin for the local NHS. The Government have already told the Trust that they must cut their costs. These plans are purely pie in the sky thinking and if they were ever to actually be built, would cause at least 5 years of disruption and risk to patients at Watford. The finished product of these short-sighted plans will be three intimidating and outdated tower blocks, which can never provide the healing environment we have been promised by architects. There are other serious flaws with these plans which do not consider problems with poor air quality, wind tunnel effects between high buildings and worst of all serious flood risks. We and our families will be stuck with these high-rises for sixty years, unless like so many old concrete 1960s tower blocks, they are demolished first. The NHC, representing views of those across West Herts, continue to call for fresh thinking for a new hospital on a clean new site, easily accessible by people from all over West Herts. It should have medium-rise buildings that will be better for patients, cheaper and quicker to build than these concrete block towers.... Read more...PUBLIC DELIVERS STUNNINGLY NEGATIVE VERDICT ON HOSPITAL PLANS20 June 2021Survey contains damning criticism of Trust’s stewardship of West Herts hospitals Plans for redeveloping Watford General Hospital would make a bad situation worse, according to a damning survey of local public opinion. The independent survey commissioned by West Herts Hospital Trust, revealed less than 10% of public comments about the West Herts Hospitals Trust’s proposals for the Vicarage Road site were completely positive. The survey also reveals that many local people are deeply unhappy with the current performance of the West Herts Trust in trying to provide a caring environment for patients and staff at Watford. The New Hospital Campaign (NHC), which wants a truly new emergency hospital on a central site accessible for the whole area, says the survey, carried out in February and March this year, proves a complete reassessment of the project is urgently needed. An NHC spokesperson commented “This survey shows the depth of the crisis of confidence which faces the West Herts Trust. It is doubly disturbing, revealing not only that many people are unhappy with the present environment at Watford General, but that the Trust’s expensive and impractical plans for the future inspire little faith in many West Herts people.” “All in all, the public have delivered a stunningly negative verdict on the stewardship of the Trust and their plans for the future. Action is needed now to put this right. The option of building a new hospital on a clear central site, along with good facilities in all three towns, must be properly and honestly explored”. You can read our full press release here, the New Hospital Campaign's response in full here and the survey feedback here. The survey feedback is well worth taking the time to read. Thanks to all those in Dacorum who took the time to complete it, your voices were heard loud and clear. We encourage any residents of St.Albans & District who are also dissatisfied with plans to develop Watford General to contact us, to strengthen the cause for a brand new hospital on a clear central site.... Read more...HOSPITAL RE-DEVELOPMENT WILL BE A CONCRETE JUNGLE14 April 2021The West Herts NHS Trust are letting private sector developers ‘run rings round it’ in negotiations over the future of Watford General Hospital. The Hospital is set to lose half the area it currently uses, as commercial interests take the best land on its current site. The Trust have announced controversial plans to house the Hospital in three of Watford’s tallest buildings – 18, 16 and 14 storeys high. Now planning documents have revealed that Watford’s high- rise hospital is set to be closely hemmed in by even more multi-storey blocks, many built by developers. The tallest of the three planned hospital towers will reach 80 metres – 12.5 metres higher than Grenfell Tower. The New Hospital Campaign (NHC) today accused the Trust of an ‘abject failure’ in its negotiations, leaving the high-rise hospital to be built on its notoriously sloping car park and marooned in a sea of overdevelopment that will mean that the WGH site will contain buildings with more than 150 storeys between them – a 500 percent rise on the number of storeys on the site at present. Click here for full press release and analysis. The Campaign will continue to press for the new hospital to be built instead on a clear central site easily accessible to all in West Hertfordshire. We know this can be achieved. With a new lower-rise hospital on a clear site near Harlow set to replace the present cramped urban Princess Alexandra Hospital, this is an example of what can be achieved by an NHS Trust with the right priorities. We are asking residents of St. Albans and District, Dacorum including Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring to make their views known by 23 April in a virtual consultation which can be reached by clicking this link: https://www.bdp.com/westhertshospitals... Read more...LATEST TRUST SURVEY COMES WITH A WARNING8 March 2021New Hospital Campaigners are asking residents in Dacorum and St. Albans to be wary of the latest survey issued by West Herts Hospital Trust. The leading questions are worded in a way that suggests to residents of both areas, that they are going to receive a significant investment to upgrade both Hemel and St. Albans City hospital. But the answers to these questions will be used to prop up the case for re-development at the Watford General site. A NHC representative commented "Everything is being sold to give a completely different impression. For example question 4 on the first page includes this statement: "Each of the three hospitals specialise in a specific healthcare area, allowing expert staff to work better together on one site, and allowing patients to access the best staff, technologies and treatments for their need". That sounds great but most people filling in the survey won't realise the crucial background about the funding intention because it is not being provided. People are being deceived. " The planned funding split is roughly 92% for Watford General and JUST 8% to be divided between St Albans and Hemel hospitals. This is something that is not mentioned on this survey and NHC want residents to know this before completing answers. The New Hospital Campaigners say that residents want that 92% of funding to go to a brand new 'state of the art A&E hospital, on a clear, central site in west Hertfordshire. THAT WOULD BE FAR BETTER FOR EVERYBODY, FINISHED SOONER AND BETTER VALUE FOR THE TAXPAYER After all, it's part of the national 'New Hospital Programme'. NHC are encouraging residents to complete the survey and tell the trust what you think, as well as your local MP and County Councillor candidates. We would also like to hear from concerned residents about your views and if you have any questions related to the funding of hospital re-development plans. You can get in touch by emailing: info@dhag.org Beware the WHHT Hard Sell!... Read more...NEW WEST HERTS HOSPITAL BUILDINGS BY 2025 – OR WILL IT BE 2030 ?1 March 2021Doubts grow over health Trust timetable claims Hospital campaigners have raised serious questions over claims made by the West Herts Hospital Trust that new hospital facilities at Watford General can be built by about 2025. The New Hospital Campaign (NHC) believes a new hospital should be built on a clear central site in west Hertfordshire, while the Trust insists on redeveloping the Watford site. The Campaign has now written to the newly-installed leader of the Government’s campaign to build 40 new hospitals nationally, pointing out serious errors in the Trust’s arguments for building at Watford, and calling on her to order an urgent investigation and review of the facts before irrevocable decisions are made. The Trust’s argument for building at Watford rather than on a new clear site rests mainly on an estimate in a Site Feasibility Study (SFS) produced by Royal Free Property Services - a close corporate partner of the West Herts Trust - that claimed that new facilities could be provided at Watford by 2025 or 2026, to meet a government-imposed deadline. A detailed review by Mike Naxton, an independent construction planning specialist, has cast doubt on the SFS estimate, saying that work under the Trust’s plans would probably continue until 2030. A new hospital on a clear site could, according to Mr Naxton, be built more rapidly. The Trust has not challenged the facts of the Naxton review. For our full response and analysis, please click here to read the full article... Read more...COUNCIL SCRUTINY OF HOSPITAL PLANS DUBBED A ‘FARCE’1 March 2021The New Hospital Campaign (NHC), which is fighting for a new A+E hospital on a clear, central site in west Hertfordshire, has branded a Hertfordshire County Council scrutiny meeting a “farce” and “grotesquely unbalanced”. The meeting, which was held to scrutinise the West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust’s plans to renovate Watford General Hospital and make minor improvements at St. Albans and Hemel Hempstead hospitals, was called a ‘topic group’ of the County’s health scrutiny committee. It was held on 8 February. The group supported the Trust’s plans though one councillor disagreed. The NHC had asked to make a presentation at the meeting but received no reply to their request. Altogether the Trust and other local health bodies were allowed to dominate the all-day proceedings with 15 minutes at the start allocated to ‘public witnesses’. This is despite the fact that an online survey run by the Trust last September showed that a large majority of the 3000 plus respondents disagreed with the plans, and that there have been two petitions on the parliamentary website, each recording more than 10,000 residents demanding a hospital on a new, accessible site. A spokesperson for the Group called the meeting “a farce and grotesquely unbalanced”, adding that it reached “truly bizarre conclusions, including that the Trust’s plans did not amount to ‘substantial development of service requiring formal consultation with the Committee’, even though it involved the expenditure of hundreds of millions of pounds with implications over many decades to come”. You can read the full press release on this meeting here. We are keen to hear from our supporters about their views or if they are able to help our campaign. Please get in touch by emailing info@dhag.org.uk... Read more...INDEPENDENT REPORT SAVAGES WATFORD HOSPITAL RE-BUILD PLANS14 December 2020Current Case for Re-building Watford Would Take Longer Than Claimed An independent expert report published today aims severe criticism at the plans of the West Herts Trust for the future of the area’s hospitals. Major projects specialist Mike Naxton shows that trying to improve the situation at the cramped Vicarage Road site in Watford – the option favoured by the Trust – could take much longer than building a new hospital on a fresh central site. This new evidence is crucial to the future of the area’s hospitals, because the West Herts Trust (WHHT) has denied calls for a proper appraisal of all options, arguing that a new hospital on a convenient new site would take longer than patching-up at Vicarage Road. The Naxton Report concludes: "In my experience it is rare for redevelopment projects such as proposed at Watford to complete near to time, due to not understanding all the unknowns, even with the most competent design and construction teams. The pressures to meet the HIP1 funding timeframe seem to have led to the production of programmes that may be optimistic, based upon working at risk but do not include all critical activities that can be identified at this stage. The same level of complexity of unknowns and risks would not apply to construction on a Greenfield site that in contrast would allow greater opportunities for more efficient design and construction methodology - resulting in programme certainty. Campaigners believe the Report proves that a new hospital on a clear, convenient central site would provide better value for money and speedier delivery of new hospital facilities than the ‘desperate and dysfunctional’ Vicarage Road options favoured by the Trust. WHHT’s existing plans offer ‘very poor value for money and many more years of unpleasant working conditions and high maintenance costs.’ Mr Naxton’s report, commissioned by the New Hospital Campaign, uses advanced software to assess the options and concludes that a new emergency care hospital on a new site could be built up to three years quicker than the Trust’s favoured option of a mixture of demolition, refurbishment and some new build at Watford General. The Report shows that the Trust’s statements have systematically exaggerated the time it would take to build a new hospital on a new site – while unrealistically minimising the time it would take to carry out its plans for Vicarage Road. The full media release can be read here and the report viewed here... Read more...NEW HOSPITAL CAMPAIGNERS ATTACK RUSHED AND FLAWED DECISION2 October 2020Patient safety concerns take second place to obsession with Watford Hospital Hospital campaigners, including DHAG have criticised local health bodies who yesterday (1st October, 2020) decided to ignore the case for a new convenient central modern hospital to serve everyone in West Hertfordshire. The New Hospital Campaign (NHC) described the decision to spend over half a billion pounds on refurbishment and new build at Vicarage Road Watford as rushed and based on flawed, shaky and often misleading evidence. Flying in the face of expert analysis and their own massaged survey which revealed public and NHS staff disquiet about their plans, West Herts Hospital Trust (WHHT) and Herts Valley Clinical Commissioning Group (HVCCG) today produced a shortlist including SIX Watford options and none for anywhere else in West Herts. Key to the decision was timing – the Government wants a new hospital in West Herts by 2025 or 2026. Meeting jointly, the two health bodies claimed on flimsy evidence that new central greenfield sites would take much longer to build on than new facilities at Watford. A spokesperson for New Hospital Campaign commented on this point: 'Yet a report led by West Herts’ own partner Trust, the Royal Free, showed that a new greenfield hospital could be built just as quickly. All the timings were close to each other. ' Once again, the views and needs of local residents have been ignored and this decision will come back to haunt those that made it. The full press released from New Hospital Campaign can be read here .... Read more...CAMPAIGNERS CAST DOUBT ON FUTURE HOSPITAL SITE REVIEW7 September 2020Campaigners for a new hospital have raised serious doubts about a review of possible sites for hospital redevelopment in West Herts. The review, called a Site Feasibility Study, has been commissioned by the West Herts Hospital Trust (WHHT) and is being used in the selection of a shortlist of sites for the project, due to be decided on 1 October. However, the New Hospital Campaign (a joint campaign between DHAG, Berkhamsted and St. Albans Campaigners) are concerned that the study is led by a company wholly owned by Royal Free London Trust, which has a close and increasing working relationship with West Herts Trust. Therefore, campaigners are concerned that this is not an independent study at all and is weighted in favour of the trust and not local residents. For example, a study of one site at Watford General is rated as highly suitable for re-development, despite there being a large sewer that runs underneath the site and notes that suggest there is a likely risk of contamination once work starts. This example and others are good reasons why a new build on a clear central site would be far better value for money for local residents. The trust believe that re-development could be completed by 2025, but NHC's buildings expert team think this is unrealistic compared with the option of a new hospital on a clear site. The full study commissioned by WHHT can be read at the link below, followed by a link to our technical appraisal of the study by a very experienced construction specialist, questions about the independence of the study and our full press release. We asking members of the public who would be interested and can be involved in fighting against these decisions that we believe are not in the public interest, to please get in touch via the Contact Us form with any information you may have. Full Feasibility Study NHC Technical Appraisal NHC Questions on Independence of Study NHC Full Press Release ... Read more...WE’VE MADE IT!25 November 2019NEW HOSPITAL CAMPAIGN REACHES TARGET OF FUNDS NEEDED FOR LEGAL ACTION The NHC are proud to announce that we have succeeded in raising the £20,000 we need to mount a judicial review against the Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group (HVCCG). A High Court judge will now review the HVCCG’s decision not to hold a full public consultation on their and the West Herts Hospitals Trust’s proposals for the long-term development of the hospital estate. They have planned to retain A+E services at Watford General, patching up less than half the dilapidated and crumbling estate there, spending a minimal amount on St. Albans City Hospital and turning Hemel Hempstead Hospital into a medical centre. Edie Glatter of the NHC said: “We would like to thank the local community for their huge support and generosity and everyone who has helped to spread the word. You have made it possible for us to reach yet another milestone, following the boost we got a few weeks ago when a judge granted us permission to bring the case, which is only given to about one in five claims, and he also set a cap on our possible costs. It is essential that the local health bodies now run a full and fair consultation including taking a serious look at building a new hospital on a clear site that everyone in West Hertfordshire can get to. It is the only way our local hospital provision can be transformed as it truly needs to be because it is in far worse condition than that of most other areas”. The NHC and our brilliant team of lawyers at Leigh Day and Co together with barristers David Wolfe and Emma Foubister from the Matrix Chambers are now waiting for the date of the full hearing. This will depend on how busy the High Court is and it may be some months away, though we will be given several weeks’ notice to allow time to prepare documents and submit them by set deadlines ahead of the hearing.... Read more...
