MP GRABS HEADLINES WITH HEMEL HOSPITAL PLEDGE – BUT WILL THE NHS DELIVER?

• Great local news coverage for MP David Taylor’s pledge to push the NHS for a ‘community hospital’ in Hemel if the current Hemel Hempstead Hospital is closed to make way for hundreds of houses and flats
• Before the election Mr Taylor said the replacement Hemel Community Hospital should have:

– Diagnostic services (e.g. scans and x-rays, blood tests)
– 24/7 urgent care and treatment (the Urgent Treatment Centre with proper out of
hours support for local residents without the need to go to Watford in most cases)
– Treatment for minor procedures (lumps, bumps, hernia, cataracts, bunions)
– Mental health and wellbeing services
– Treatment for vulnerable patients with conditions such as Parkinson’s or dementia
– Patient transfer services
– Full rehabilitation and step down wards – getting local residents back into the
community and near their support networks as soon as possible.

• There is a crying need to expand hospital services to meet the growing demand from our ageing population –  a rise of nearly 40% in the number of over-65s in just twenty years
• Disappointingly, the NHS plans would, at the most, see the limited current hospital services moved from the existing Hemel Hospital site to a Health Hub or Campus in Hemel’s Market Square – no mention of expansion to meet growing needs
• What will happen to the 100,000 outpatient appointments and 50,000 urgent care cases a year that happen at Hemel Hempstead Hospital now? Will they still be provided at a new Hub?
• There are no guarantees that David Taylor’s ambitions will become reality – Dacorum Health Action Group will keep the pressure up on the reluctant authorities
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