In the previous edition of Blueprint we referred to Sir Mike Penning’s question to Boris Johnson in the prime minister’s question time session on 24 November.
He said: “The Prime Minister cheered all of my constituents up when he came to south west Hertfordshire and said that we were going to have a new hospital. Sadly, even though the money is there, the local management of our trust have blocked it; they are going to refurbish Watford’s hospital and not give us a brand new hospital on a greenfield site, which is what we want. Will the Prime Minister meet me and some of my constituents to unblock this and tell the NHS that it needs to build a new hospital for Hemel Hempstead.”
Sir Mike asked us to apologise for stating in November’s Blueprint that he was pressing the case or a new hospital
in Hemel Hempstead when he had said
for Hemel Hempstead. We are happy to set the record straight.
In our letter of apology we felt we had to point out that that it was misleading for Sir Mike to say that ‘the money is there’. It is not. None of the eight NHS trusts in the NHP’s ‘pathfinder’ cohort has had their funding agreed – that only happens after the OBC has been considered fully.
Additionally, there has never been a plan for a new hospital on a new site and nor was the money pledged on that basis, so it’s impossible for us to have blocked a plan for that, when no such plan has ever existed.
Sir Mike has placed his letter to us in the public domain and so it seems appropriate for our response to also be available to anyone who wishes to see the exchange in full. Mike Penning’s letter can be read
here and Helen Brown’s response can be read
here.
