MP: 'Is Watford best location for health campus?'

8:30am Friday 16th October 2009

By Michael Pickard

The future of Watford's £1billion Health campus could be in doubt, after an MP called for a full review of hospital services.

Mike Penning MP, a shadow health minister, told the Watford Observer yesterday (Thursday) that if the Conservatives won the next general election, he would ask for a independent review of acute services across the country.

And he said he would reopen the debate about the best location for a new flagship hospital serving west Hertfordshire, after claiming Watford General Hospital “is not working”.

As planning permission to completely rebuild the Vicarage Road hospital nears approval, West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust has invested more than £40million into the site in the past three years.

A new acute admissions unit opened earlier this year, while A&E, the children's emergency department and the intensive care unit have all been centralised in Watford.

The trust has also invested £7million in Hemel Hempstead General Hospital, where services now include outpatients' clinics, diagnostics, an urgent care centre and out of hours GP service.

But Mr Penning, MP for Hemel Hempstead, believes the closure of its A&E department has destroyed the hospital.

He said: “It's not working for Watford. It's manic most of the time. It's not good for the people of Dacorum or St Albans [to have central services in Watford].

“Let's be honest and have a debate about what could happen from a clinical review. I will campaign until my dying day to save my hospital.

“If we start from scratch for a hospital looking after three big areas, it wouldn't be in the middle of either Watford, Hemel or St Albans. It needs to look after all three of these areas.

“It's stuck next to a football club. It's not the right place for a large acute hospital that will look after everybody. They have taken our hospital away from us.”

The Conservative MP also questioned why the only two acute hospitals left in Hertfordshire, in Watford and Stevenage, are also the only two constituencies with Labour MPs.

He said: “If anyone can tell me these are the best sites for acute hospitals, I will debate that from now until kingdom come.

“My constituents have had their hospital destroyed and now they're supposed to be happy? We need a sensible debate.”

Watford MP Claire Ward, however, has angrily slammed Mr Penning's plans, which she said would push healthcare in the area back ten years.

"There has been massive investment in health by Labour at Hemel, Watford and St Albans and that money should not be wasted. The people of West Herts have been through this debate years ago and we are now settled on the plans for a new hospital on the Watford site. We don't need the Tories to take us back ten years and lose all we have worked so hard for as a community.

"This clearly shows that the future of the Watford Health Campus will be at risk from a Tory Government. The message is clear: vote Labour and our hospital stays open, gets bigger and better, or vote Conservative and they'll axe it - it's as simple as that."

Meanwhile, Richard Harrington, the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Watford, said he would continue to support the Watford Health Campus.

He said: “As David Cameron has made clear, the NHS is safe in Conservative hands. If elected MP for Watford, I would make sure that our health campus is a top priority for those at the centre of a Conservative government. For too long Watford has been sidelined under this Labour administration as no-one in government has had a voice big enough for the constituency."