Hospital trust chief calls Mount Vernon Cancer Centre a 'total dump'

Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Northwood was found to be neglected, short of staff and not fit for purpose following an independent review in 2019.

Many of the buildings were found to not be in a good state of repair, and concerns were raised regarding the long-term sustainability of the centre.

While Watford General Hospital has been earmarked as a leading candidate to move the cancer services to an acute hospital site, the future of the cancer centre is not definitive.

Talking to The Guardian about how underfunded the NHS is, Prof Marcel Levi of London’s University College Hospital specifically pointed to his observations of the cancer centre when he went to inspect it.

Reciting his visit to the cancer centre, he said: “I didn’t know what I was seeing. It is a total dump. I talked to people who said, ‘we hope we won’t have any snow this year because if it snows it’s quite likely that the roof will fall in’. I mean, that’s a hospital that cancer patients are being treated in!”

As Prof Levi prepares to step down as chief executive of the University College London Hospitals trust, he stated there is a “chronic underinvestment” in the NHS and the UK “does not spend a lot of money on acute hospitals”.

Read more:

• Cancer services could transfer to Watford as current set-up deemed unsuitable
• NHS trust backs proposed transfer of cancer services
• Campaign group wonders if Watford could manage Mount Vernon transfer

Watford is seen as a location that would satisfy the five key criteria when assessing a new site – it possesses an on-site critical care unit, offers specialist services, and would not significantly increase travel times for users.

And the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust said it was “confident” that the services offered at Mount Vernon could be incorporated by Watford General Hospital, should the move happen.

In a recent meeting (March 16) of Hertfordshire’s health scrutiny committee, it emerged that a further satellite radiotherapy unit could be placed elsewhere.

Jessamy Kinghorn, head of partnerships and engagement for NHS England and NHS Improvement, told the committee that – even with a radiotherapy unit at Watford – there would be lengthy journeys for some patients.

Ms Kinghorn said the programme board has agreed that a satellite unit should be alongside an acute hospital, to enable the service to provide its largest range of radiotherapy treatments.