| Welcome to Blueprint | | There’s good news for west Hertfordshire patients as we receive funding for a new CT and a new MRI scanner at St Albans City Hospital and further our plans for enhanced diagnostics at Hemel Hempstead Hospital.
Expanding access to diagnostics is part of a national programme and fits well with our local redevelopment plans which will deliver an increasing number of services along a ‘one stop’ model where rapid results will allow us to cover several steps of treatment in the same visit.
Your views on ways we could improve diagnostic services would be very welcome, so please read on to access a short survey or find out how to join a focus group next month.
There is more good news, with the imminent opening of a new urgent care hub at St Albans City Hospital – please see the article below for more details. | | |
|
New diagnostics facilities heading to St Albans and Hemel Hempstead
We will soon receive £12m funding for a new MRI and CT scanner to be part of a newly created community diagnostic centre at St Albans with the next phase coming to Hemel Hempstead. This will increase the number of diagnostic checks and scans for local people, leading to faster diagnosis and treatment.
St Albans City Hospital's new facility, which is due to open in 2024, will be created by reconfiguring and refurbishing parts of the hospital’s Runcie Wing. In addition to the new MRI and CT scanners, the newly created diagnostic centre will provide x-ray, ultrasound, a SPECT scanner (where images are taken after an injection of nuclear medicine to assess the function of tissues or organs) as well as existing pathology services.
The next phase of our plans will see the development of a community diagnostics centre at Hemel Hempstead Hospital which will help deliver services for patients with long-term or multiple conditions who are not acutely unwell but need specialist hospital treatment. Facilities will include x-ray, ultrasound, MRI and CT among a range of non-invasive tests.
Our chief strategy officer Clare Parker said “We’re thrilled to be moving ahead with improving the range of diagnostic services at our hospitals in St Albans and Hemel Hempstead. This injection of funding now helps us bring our plans to life and cements the very important role that the hospitals play in our three-site network.”
Read our press release here to find out more.
|
|
|
We’d like to hear about your experiences of diagnostics
Discovering more ways to improve diagnostics for Hertfordshire patients is a key priority for the hospitals trust and our wider integrated care board.
We would very much like to hear how patients have found their recent visit for a diagnostic test or check. This could be an x-ray, a scan, blood test, endoscopy or any other kind of diagnostic.
If you have attended an appointment in the last two years please do complete this survey, which closes on 7 October 2022, here.
You can also join a virtual focus group session 12-1pm on 12 October. Please email heather.aylward@nhs.net if you would like to particpate.
|
|
|
New urgent care service opening at St Albans
St Albans City Hospital is getting ready to open its doors to a new integrated urgent care hub.
The service, which opens on 19 October 2022, is for patients from St Albans and the surrounding area who need same day urgent care for health concerns that need prompt attention but aren’t life threatening.
The hub will treat minor illnesses and will be open 9am-6pm, seven days a week. Much like GP services, you will need to book an appointment for the service through NHS111 or your GP practice.
You can read more about the hub here.
|
|
|
Senior health colleagues show support for our plans
Senior colleagues from the New Hospital Programme (NHP), NHS England and the Integrated Care Board for Hertfordshire and west Essex have made visits to our hospital in Watford this month.
Our colleagues discovered more about our award winning virtual hospital model and increased understanding of our building plans for the new hospital in Watford. They were very supportive of our work and our plans going forward.
Sir David Sloman who is the chief operating officer at NHS England said: “The virtual hospital model is a fantastic example of embracing innovation while providing safe and high quality care for all. The lives of thousands of people have been improved, and it’s a remarkable achievement between health partners in west Hertfordshire.”
Pictured above are colleagues with Sir David and Dr Jane Halpin who is chief executive for our integrated care board in Hertfordshire and west Essex. Read more in our press release here.
|
|
| Keeping you up to date | Currently we await further guidance and information on the level of standardisation required in newly built and refurbished hospitals. This will further shape the design of our new hospital at Watford General as well as some parts of our plans for Hemel Hempstead and St Albans. We would like to involve you on certain aspects of design plans such as single rooms and ward layouts where we can.
Once we have more clarity on these aspects we will reschdule the on-site walkabout events at our three hosptials for early next year. | | | 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. | |
|
