The West Herts Trust doesn’t want you to see these reports
- The decision to reject all possible clear new accessible sites for a new emergency and specialist West Hertfordshire Hospital was based on a single technical assessment by NHS civil servants published in 2020
- This ‘site feasibility study’ (SFS) said that it would be quicker and less risky to build a new hospital facility at Watford General than at any clear new site in a place that West Herts people could reach more easily (page 3)
- This SFS has been suppressed by the Trust – it has been removed from the Trust website and the Trust has done its best to make it impossible for the public to trace it on the internet
- But the New Hospital Campaign have kept a copy – attached!
- Also attached is a report by an independent expert commissioned by the New Hospital Campaign which says it would be quicker to build on a clear new accessible site than to build at Watford General
- That report, by Mike Naxton, says: ‘The Watford site would seem to take a much longer period to deliver a fully functional facility under the proposed redevelopment plans than would be the case with the Greenfield New Build option.’ He continues that there is a ‘high risk of time and cost overruns as a result of
encountering unforeseen problematic conditions on an existing aged operational hospital estate
such as Watford.’ (page 26) - Please feel free to make your own choice!
- This is the report with the assessment by NHS civil servants:
- WHHT Site Feasibility Report – 210820 – final
- This is the independent report:
- Full-Naxton-Report-with-Appendices