‘Misinformation’ – a challenge to the NHS and Dacorum Council

27 March 2026

The various groups of campaigners against the closure of Hemel Hospital have been accused of spreading misinformation about the plan
The supporters of the closure say that campaigners indulge in speculation about the replacement Neighbourhood Health Centre in Market Square
Closure supporters rarely identify specific inaccuracies in what campaigners say
But it is disturbing that this debate has reached this point
One of the reasons is that the authorities have provided very little hard information about the project
A good example is the 2025 ‘public version’ of the ‘Economic Case’ for the project – which contained not one Pound sign
The complete Strategic Outline Case (SOC) has not been made public
This retreat from transparency is very disappointing, because previously, the local NHS Trust has made a very detailed public case for its plans
For example, when the Trust Board considered acute redevelopment in 2020, the full case for building on Watford General was made public and responses were invited
A full draft Strategic Outline Case including case numbers had been made public the year before
The 2020 public document had full information including –

costs of various options, including their impact on the finances of the Trust
detailed analysis of the longlist of options,
detailed technical site feasibility studies
detailed reports of the work of stakeholder panels including the public
detailed descriptions of potential risks

The fact that the SOC for the Hemel Hospital closure/Neighbourhood Health Centre scheme has NOT been made public has meant that people have not been given enough information
Here is the challenge to the promoters of the Neighbourhood Health Centre scheme
WHY NOT PUBLISH THE STRATEGIC OUTLINE CASE ?
What do you have to lose?
Below are the 2020 329-page Board papers from the 2020 redevelopment debate