Andrew Love’s letter ‘Bigger hospital picture’ poses the question ‘what exactly are the plans for Watford General Hospital?’.

Please allow me to remind readers of our proposals, which have been developed by our leading doctors, senior nurses and service managers.

Land between Thomas Sawyer Way and our existing hospital will be home to a major new hospital with new clinical facilities replacing those currently on the Watford site. These will include a new women’s and children’s facility, a vastly expanded emergency department compared to what we have now and inpatient wards with mostly single rooms. As a result, the clinical space on the Watford site will effectively double. The design will incorporate advances in digital technology as well as landscaping, planting and quiet spaces for staff, patients and visitors. Our multi-storey car park will open next month.

Read more: Look at the bigger hospital picture

We are pushing for as much new build as funding will allow across all three of our hospitals.

Mr Love calls the Watford site cramped but a view from Thomas Sawyer Way provides a different perspective. This is where the new hospital will be built, far enough away from current facilities to keep disruption to a minimum. Our plans will also create room for future expansion as well as space for the relocation of the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre.

Yes, we will be building up rather than out but this is an effective way to keep associated services together and means that the hospital will be much easier and quicker to get around.

By the time this letter is printed we will have uploaded a recording of yesterday’s stakeholder session (open to all) which sets out the process we must follow to deliver new and better buildings.

This is on our website (https://www.westhertshospitals.nhs.uk/about/redevelopment/) where there are also details of other online sessions which cover hospital design, emergency care, travel and access and an update on our progress with securing funds.

Helen Brown

Deputy chief executive,

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust