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 | | Welcome to Blueprint | | We hope you have been enjoying the summer with its pleasant, and at times too warm temperatures!
At the time of writing, plans are in place for an urgent repair to a mains water supply pipe at Watford General Hospital. A hole has appeared in the road outside the main (Princess Michael of Kent) block, due to a leak. We are investigating the surrounding pipes, which may also need repairs. Thankfully, ambulance journeys are unaffected and most patients and visitors access the site from Thomas Sawyer Way and these routes remain the same. Our news pages have the latest update on this.
Much of our infrastructure is of similar age and condition to our pipework and, despite the huge and continued efforts of our skilled estates team, is at risk of failure. This is why we are pursuing the redevelopment option that can be delivered in the shortest time. Speed really is of the essence and we are taking every opportunity to press our case for funding because we want to get started as soon as possible.
In this issue we report on our events at Hemel Hempstead and St Albans City hospitals where delegates got out in the sun for a guided walk around the sites to find out more about the proposals for redevelopment at these locations. We also tell you a little about planned maternity rooms in our proposed new building at Watford General. | | |
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Walking the talk!
Patients, carers, councillors and local residents came along to our Hemel Hempstead and St Albans hospitals this month to find out more about our redevelopment plans.
Delegates heard how expanded diagnostics and more services running on a ‘one stop’ model are at the heart of our plans. We also explained how our three hospitals – and our outpatient physiotherapy unit at Jacketts Field – are very much part of a network, with each site having its own areas of expertise.
We shared current and future annual activity levels at Hemel Hempstead (around 180,000 appointments and more planned) and St Albans (around 110,000 appointments and more planned). We explained how our hospitals will increase the degree of specialty care at each site and that this will make better use of our resources (staff and equipment).
Thank you to those of you who gave up your time. We hope you found the wider context helpful. Digital copies of the presentations can be found online at these links for the Hemel Hempstead event and the St Albans event. A digital version of the display boards illustrating our plans for all three hospitals can be viewed here.
Further detail on which services will be provided at which site can also be found in the engagement documents we issued last year. The services and proposed models of care are also explained in this presentation video. You may also like to take a look at our clinical brief which has the most detail. Please note that these documents were prepared when we were working to a delivery date of ‘2025 or soon after’. Being part of a national programme means that we have to adapt as the timeline moves. Despite any changes at a national level, our priority remains the same – to deliver new and better buildings in the shortest time possible.
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Travel and access to our hospital sites
Some of our readers have been kind enough to give us their time to discuss travel and access to our hosptial sites.
We know that there are many viable transport options for patients to get to hosptial and so a large part of our work on access currently is to make sure patients know about them and that we are providing the best possible information in the most user friendly way. We are grateful to members of our reference group who have been providing feedback on the travel pages of our website.
If you would like to join the travel and access group which meets (online) a few times a year we’d be grateful to hear from you. Please email westherts.redevelopment@nhs.net to express your interest.
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Maternity rooms proposed for Watford General Hospital
Last month we talked about standardised design, and in particular the inpatient accommodation (called ‘repeatable rooms’) at our proposed new hospital building at Watford General
We have exciting plans for our wards and our maternity rooms in our planned new hospital. Expectant mothers will be in single occupancy rooms before, during and after labour. This will remove the need for them, their birth partners and their babies, to move between different areas. The new design represents the latest in best clinical practice and design standards and we are excited about being able to provide a totally different and much improved experience in the coming years.
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| 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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