Health secretary Andy Burnham this week backed plans for the £300 million Watford Health Campus and said reopening the debate on local health services would be a “backward step”.

He said: “Saving lives comes above saving local services and that might be hard for some people to accept but for me that's absolutely non-negotiable. If you know you can save lives you should always take that course of action.”

Mr Burnham was speaking on Monday as he officially opened Watford General Hospital's new £12 million acute admissions unit.

The MP for Leigh, who was accompanied by Watford MP Claire Ward, would not be drawn on when financial backing from the Government would come forward, or when further building work would take place.

But he said the Watford Health Campus would be a “priority for funding”.

The health secretary also said he would “speed up” plans for a new road that would link the hospital to Dalton Way and the M1.

Ms Ward said: “[The road] is an integral part of it and the reality is without the road, although the health campus will still take place, it is not as good in terms of accessibility and the road is, therefore, an important part of it.

“There's no doubt the people of south west Hertfordshire have waited for 20 years to get a new hospital, to get the health campus. People are now excited by the prospect of a health campus particularly because it's got so many different partners involved it, they can see what is on offer and we need to deliver that.”

Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning, a shadow health minister, told the Watford Observer last year that a future Conservative government would launch an independent review of health services nationwide, which could threaten the future of the health campus in favour of a new hospital closer to his constituency.

Mr Burnham said: “I remember when I came here years ago and stood on the roof of the building, I was impressed back then with the vision the trust have and I believe that remains the right vision and we'll help them try to realise that.

“The NHS has to keep moving forward. Investing in new buildings allows you to make them more efficient and use what resources you have to better effect. We are entering more constrained times but clearly there is a strong case for funds here.

“I know the shadow health minister has said we should go back and reverse the decision. I think if he spoke to the clinicians here and really questioned the safety data then I think I'd be surprised if he stuck to that view. I don't believe there is a safety case for moving the clock back.

“I would say anyone who does my job and anyone who aspires to do my job has to at all times be guided by patient safety and the evidence of what will save most lives. To be anything else would be to fail in the number one obligation of health minister.

“And I would say to them that if they have the misfortune to have a heart attck or a stroke or any other emergency health care situation, it's much better that they are seen by a specialist and that's more likely to happen when you can bring those teams together in one unit and that is what is happening here in this acute admissions unit.”