Clear new site for a new West Herts hospital could save NHS up to £500m

26 March 2025

New expert report says the NHS could save up to half a billion pounds with a new A&E and specialist hospital on a clear new site instead of rebuilding Watford General
Hospital on suitable clear site could also be built up to a year earlier than struggling on with Wasteful Watford redevelopment
Highly experienced building expert Robert Scott says West Herts Trust plan for building at Watford’s cramped and sloping Vicarage Road site would be costly and disruptive, with several risks to patient care
Over many years, Trust has failed to come up with a Watford scheme that is both affordable and practical.
7+ year delay to Watford plan is a chance to explore cheaper, quicker – and better – options
Watford’s woes would include – noisy and polluting interference with working of the existing hospital, need for expensive groundworks, complex safety measures, reduced working hours, inadequate access for construction traffic which would hamper hospital traffic
Mr Scott, who is a member of the New Hospital Campaign, calculates that building on a clear site could cost around £1.45bn – against a likely cost of around £1.936bn for the rebuild of Watford General
That’s a Watford Money Gap of about £500m
Report calls for ‘A full professional independent review and alternative site search’ for alternative options for a new West Herts hospital and ‘a reliable re-evaluation of the current proposals’

The full media release on the Scott report is here: Media release costs comparison