A local health group has accused NHS bosses and Dacorum Borough Council of reneging on a pledge by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, that the public would be consulted over the closure of Hemel Hempstead Hospital.
In June, the Prime Minister reportedly promised David Taylor, MP for Hemel Hempstead, in the House of Commons that there would be public consultation over the possible replacement of the 200-year-old hospital with a health hub or campus in the town’s Market Square.
However, the Dacorum Health Action Group (DHAG) is alleging that the NHS has instead:
- Pushed for shifting all services from the spacious current hospital site to a single tower block on the small Market Square
- Failed to explain alternatives to the hub
- Suppressed a longlist of possible options
- Claimed, allegedly without any evidence, that the Market Square hub would be better for patients than using the present site.
Philip Aylett, chair of DHAG, said today (Tuesday, October 7): “In rushing forward with the closure of our hospital, NHS managers and Dacorum Borough Council have shown contempt for local people.
“Keir Starmer made a clear promise to David Taylor that there would be public consultation over the NHS and council plans to flatten the hospital and squeeze all services into a single Market Square ‘hub’ block. That process would have given us a proper chance to consider the alternative of developing part of the current hospital site.”
But Dr Aylett said the NHS had instead indulged in “a charade of public involvement, showing that the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary promise has counted for nothing with the unelected NHS managers”.
He went on to say: “There are 440 car park spaces on the current hospital site, well filled on weekdays. The NHS and council think that all those cars will fit into the 600-space Water Gardens car park, which is often already half full. These numbers don’t add up.
‘The planners have forgotten that patients will often have poor mobility or other conditions, so will need close and convenient parking. But the Water Gardens is spread out and many people will find it difficult to reach the hub.
“The restricted Market Square site will not allow room for expansion as the borough’s population grows and ages in the next decades.
“It is nonsensical to give up the spacious current site when we will need more space for our hospital.
“The last time the NHS considered the future of Hemel’s hospital services, the idea of a Market Square Hub was rated the very worst possible option.
“What has happened to make it the authorities’ ‘preferred way forward’? NHS bosses and the council owe the public an explanation for their extraordinary U-turn.”
Dacorum Borough Council responded in a statement saying: “The local NHS, building on previous public engagement and a 2019 government-approved care model for West Hertfordshire, proposes a Health Campus in Hemel Hempstead focused on planned medical care, long-term conditions and integrated neighbourhood services, while continuing to involve residents meaningfully throughout the planning and decision-making process”.
As I recollect from having worked in the town, Water Gardens car park was always full. It was mostly used by people who worked in the town itself and was almost impossible to find a space later in the day.
I have to rely on hospital transport coming with a wheelchair to take me to hospital appointments. How is that going to work?
As I recollect from having worked in the town, Water Gardens car park was always full. It was mostly used by people who worked in the town itself and was almost impossible to find a space later in the day.
I have to rely on hospital transport coming with a wheelchair to take me to hospital appointments. How is that going to work?