West Herts Hospitals: Health chiefs set to continue with plans

There are plans to rebuild the majority of buildings at Watford General Hospital on Vicarage Road

Health bosses are due to continue "at pace" with plans to redevelop a hospital after hearing money is to be made available for external advisors.

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT) is working on a multi-million pound redevelopment programme of its hospitals including Watford General.

Some "key professionals" in the planning process, such as architects, were due to be stood down.

It has now said it had been "promised the necessary funding".

Outline plans for the rebuilding of Watford General Hospital, and the 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 the government, which will establish exactly how much funding is granted to the project.

WHHT said that earlier this month it had "reluctantly accepted" that "key professionals" that they needed to help with the design and financial planning of its proposals would not be able to continue "until the national funding pipeline resumed".

In a statement, it said the trust had now "been promised the necessary funding to keep its redevelopment team together and on track".

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

The government first pledged £400m for the Watford redevelopment in 2019 but no firm funding has been made available and the trust had yet to have an outline business case (OBC) approved, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The Trust said its priority was to complete a detailed cost-benefit analysis of options for its three hospitals which would form part of the OBC.

It was hoped that would be completed and submitted to the government's New Hospital Programme for approval and funding next year.

Helen Brown, WHHT deputy chief executive, said: "We are very happy to continue working at pace on this important programme after so many years of pursuing funding at every opportunity.

"It feels really good to keep the momentum going, including those aspects of our plans which require the input of external experts, such as architects and cost planners."

She added that the trust was "confident" the analysis would "clearly demonstrate" that replacing the majority of buildings at Watford was "the best option - clinically and financially" and that they would recommend "a mixture of some new-build and some refurbishment of current buildings" at its sites in Hemel Hempstead and St Albans.