Ambitious plans to spend £641 million on a new hospital in Watford have been approved.

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT) agreed plans to build on the Watford General Hospital site and redevelop St Albans City Hospital at a board meeting last week.

The dire state of facilities in Watford were revealed in a damning document compiled by the trust - which said the poor condition of the site has resulted in a “significant risk” to the continuity of the business.

SEE ALSO: Damning report slates 'poor condition' of Watford General Hospital

Board members heard that the newly produced Strategic Outline Case document (SOC) rules out building a new hospital on a greenfield site on affordability and deliverability grounds.

It stated that if a new hospital could not be built, the existing site would be redeveloped.

Trust chief executive Katie Fisher explained the preferred options are also more likely to succeed in securing funding.

She said: “The biggest opportunity we have is around service transformation, thinking about how we can deliver our services differently to better meet our patients’ needs and make the very best use of our highly skilled workforce.”

The project will enable the trust to meet current estates standards, such as the space between beds and the number of cots in the neonatal intensive care unit.

With the residential aspect of the Health Campus project progressing steadily, pressure is increasing on the trust to confirm its future plans for the area’s acute services.

The report establishes the need for investment and seeks approval to conduct a more detailed analysis of options going forward; it is believed that building a new hospital is not among them.

The board also heard that new car parking facilities at Watford General Hospital is being treated as a priority.

If approval is given, the trust will then submit the case for approval by NHS Improvement.

Approval by NHS Improvement will essentially give the green light for us to proceed to the next stage of planning – the outline business case (OBC) which includes finalising the preferred option, first stage design work and an outline planning application.

Construction could start in 2020 and would last 10 years.