Prime Minister Boris Johnson agrees to West Hertfordshire new hospital meeting

An artist's impression of the proposed new entrance for Watford General Hospital

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will arrange a meeting with the Health Secretary to "unblock" the idea of building a new hospital.

Hemel Hempstead MP Sir Mike Penning claimed in Parliament that West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust had "blocked" the idea of a new facility.

The West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust has opted for a £550m hospital redevelopment programme instead.

The trust said this was the "best route to achieving new hospital facilities".

Outline plans for the £550m rebuild of Watford General Hospital and refurbishment at St Albans City and Hemel Hempstead Hospitals were backed in July.

The trust is currently developing its business case for NHS England and central government, which will establish exactly how much funding is granted to the project.

Earlier this month, politicians from across the county wrote to Health Secretary Sajid Javid to request an update on funding.

The Department of Health and Social Care said funding would be released when a business case had been agreed.

The matter of building a completely new hospital on a green field site instead was raised by Sir Mike during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday and Mr Johnson said he would ask Mr Javid to meet those concerned, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"I'm sure we'll be able to unblock things one way or another," Mr Johnson said.

Trust deputy chief executive, Helen Brown, said it shared Sir Mike's desire to see new hospital facilities for patients and staff as soon as possible.

"However, our strongly held view is that the best route to achieving this is major redevelopment at Watford General Hospital and improvements to our hospitals in Hemel Hempstead and St Albans," she said.

Watford's elected mayor, Peter Taylor, who backs the trust's plans, said independent experts had looked into the situation many times and had concluded the best way to improve facilities for everybody was to invest in new buildings at Watford General.

"The prime minister can unblock this by delivering the investment Watford General needs, now," he said.

The trust previously said it was hopeful of new hospital facilities being open in 2027.