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.”