| Welcome to Blueprint | | It’s heads down again as we focus on our outline business case, which is essentially our ‘bid’ for funds to deliver the options approved by our trust board last month.
The New Hospital Programme (NHP) is certainly the biggest show in town in terms of major investment but it is not the only route to funding. We remain ready to act should there be opportunities to secure investment for equipment (such as scanners) outside of the NHP.
And whilst a lot of discussion has been about the Watford site, we are gearing up for work at our hospitals in Hemel Hempstead and St Albans. Outline planning applications have just been submitted to the local planning authorities and they should soon be ready for viewing online – and understanding in person! (more detail on this follows).
We are not standing still whilst waiting for approvals and funding – improvement works are continuing across our sites | | |
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Meet Clare Parker our executive lead for the hospital redevelopment
We are delighted to announce that Clare Parker, our chief strategy officer, is the new ‘SRO’ (senior responsible officer) for our hospital redevelopment.
Originally from a finance background, Clare has more than ten years’ board level experience in the NHS and has led service transformation projects in and around London. More recently she has been supporting the formation of the new Integrated Care Board (see article further down).
Clare is passionate about providing services where patients are in control of their treatment and says: “The experience of a close family member brought home the importance of care fitting around the patient and not the organisation. With the increasing integration in the health system and the opportunity to replace and upgrade our buildings we have the potential to create services which reduce the need for multiple hospital visits and have a greater focus on care closer to home and online, where this works for patients.”
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Plans for St Albans and Hemel Hempstead hospitals
We are organising site visits at St Albans City Hospital and Hemel Hempstead Hospital to bring our plans to life.
The sessions will begin with an explanation of the service model and then there will be a short tour of the site. We will, of course, be working within infection prevention and control guidelines and this will mean limited access to clinical areas.
We hope these events will take place towards the end of July or in early August. We will email Blueprint subscribers when we have firm dates. We will be running these visits on a strict RSVP basis.
Hemel Hempstead Hospital
Our vision is for Hemel Hempstead to look and feel very different to how it does now, inside and out. The hospital will continue to provide general outpatient care (including maternity and paediatric) as well as having the urgent care treatment centre. But the hospital will also have a new unique purpose to provide specialist planned medical care for west Hertfordshire patients who have long term conditions. This will include cardiology, respiratory, rheumatology and dermatology – to name a few. Patients will be seen in one-stop clinics where diagnostics procedures such as scans, respiratory tests and blood work will be carried out in the same visit.
This will speed up diagnosis and treatment and save the need for repeat visits. Clinicians from different specialties will be based at the site which will support collaborative working around assessing, planning and delivering care.
We have applied to Dacorum Borough Council for outline permission to refurbish the existing buildings and build some new sections. We are also working with the council to agree how surplus land on the site and disused buildings might be used in future. The landscape around the building will be hugely improved, making the site a nicer place to work and visit.
St Albans City Hospital
Under our redevelopment plans St Albans City Hospital will be the centre for planned surgery and cancer care within our three hospital model. We will increase planned surgery for complex cases and a surgical outpatients service along with a new rapid diagnostics centre including MRI, CT and endoscopy to support cancer care and other specialties.
As with all three of our hospital sites, diagnostic facilities here will be significantly upgraded and the latest digital technology will be incorporated into the building and services.
The St Albans site is very compact and so offers less scope in terms of making it look very different. However, the hospital will be refurbished internally and we are proposing part-demolition of some of the hospital buildings, construction of two new buildings and two extensions, along with major improvements to the outside of the existing buildings.
Where you can view the applications
You can view our application for Hemel Hempstead Hospital here.
You will be able to view the application for St Albans City Hospital here.
There will be information on the councils’ websites to explain how to give your feedback.
We also welcome any feedback residents, patients, or staff would like to share directly with us on our plans for the hospitals. You can email westherts.redevelopment@nhs.net or write to Communications Team, Willow House, Watford General Hospital, Vicarage Road, Watford, WD18 0HB.
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A reminder of our redevelopment plans
Don’t forget, if you’d like to understand more about our redevelopment and the forthcoming specialised role of each of our hospital sites, please visit our new web pages Which hospital will deliver which services? You can find tables listing the full range of services to be offered at each hospital on pages 21 - 24 in our document Your Care, Your Views.
This is all part of our services redesign to deliver the very best of care for our patients and the best working environment for staff.
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Developing sustainable travel options
We are currently working to develop sustainable travel options for patients and staff. These include safe active travel routes such as walking, cycling and park and ride opportunities for those who are able, all of which will free up spaces in our car parks.
Our travel team have been out and about this month interviewing staff and patients to find out how they get to us, where they are come from, how long they stay and how else they might be able to travel to our hospitals. In August, we will be conducting more in-depth virtual focus groups with staff and patients on Microsoft Teams, these will take 90 minutes. Please email westherts.redevelopment@nhs.net if you would be interested in joining a focus group on;
- Wednesday 3rd August 2022, from 17:30-19:00; or
- Thursday 4th August 2022 from 17:30-19:00.
You can find out more about our green travel plans which will be developed further on page 20 of our Green Plan.
Those of you who have visited Watford General recently may have used the new 1,455 space multi-storey car park. Feedback has been positive, there are plenty of spaces and it’s so much easier to reach the hospital buildings. If you haven’t yet seen the car park, find out more in our animation and leaflet.
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Interim improvements to our hospitals
Whilst we do everything we can to move as quickly as possible towards receiving funding for our plans, updates are required to our buildings in order provide good, safe care. Wherever possible we are linking these updates into our redevelopment plans to ensure money is put to good use for the future as well as the present.
The theatre complex at Watford General is undergoing a complete reconfiguration with refitting of theatres, a new recovery area and a bigger and brighter staff rest area with a kitchen, changing rooms and showers. This work will be completed this summer.
St Albans City Hospital’s x-ray rooms are receiving new digital x-ray equipment and a refresh of the rooms themselves. The digital scans will provide faster diagnostics for patients leading to faster treatment.
Our fully refurbished state-of-the-art cardiac catheter laboratory at Watford General Hospital has been open since last year. It now has state of the art equipment and can provide highly detailed 3D images of the heart’s electrical systems and upgraded equipment for testing, diagnosing and treating abnormal heart rhythms. The overhaul also included a technology-enabled meeting space which is used for training and education sessions and to discuss patients’ treatment plans.
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A new integrated care board for Hertfordshire and west Essex
NHS Hertfordshire and west Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) is the local NHS organisation that plans and oversees how NHS money is spent and makes sure health services work well and are of high quality.
The board officially launches on 1 July 2022 and its role is to join up health and care services, improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities. The board will be taking on many of the functions and responsibilities of the three clinical commissioning groups in Hertfordshire and west Essex, all of which cease to exist after 30 June 2022.
The board has a budget of around £2.8 billion, for the 1.5 million people who live in this area. You can find out more information about where the ICB sits in the wider health system here and get more news from the Healthier Future website or follow them at @HWEICB.
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| Covid medicines delivery unit | A Covid medicines delivery unit (CMDU) at Watford General Hospital has been open since December 2021 and has successfully treated clinically extremely vulnerable patients.
The CMDU service – run by the trust’s respiratory, ambulatory care, nursing and pharmacy teams – aims to respond within 24 hours of a positive PCR result for high-risk patients (such as people who’ve received organ transplants, cancer and certain chronic or neurological conditions). Treatments include neutralising antibodies or anti-viral medications via intravenous infusion or oral medications.
The unit has seen great outcomes for patients including rapid improvements in symptoms, and a 33% reduction in hospitalisations.
| | | Catch up with redevelopment news | Blueprint - You can read past editions of the Blueprint newsletter on our website under ‘newsletters’. Share the news and get your colleagues and friends to subscribe by emailing westherts.redevelopment@nhs.net
A-Z information sheet - This document addresses frequently asked questions and the main themes from our engagement and redevelopment programme. It will be updated regularly and we will provide details of where information has been added or amended. | |
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