Have national hospital bosses put Watford General development ‘on pause’?

National health chiefs have effectively put consideration of plans to redevelop Watford General Hospital ‘on pause’, it has been suggested.

The suggestion was made in a report presented to a West Herts Hospitals Trust (WHHT) board meeting.

And it has emerged that the Trust has taken the decision to ‘stand down’ all external advisory support connected with the plans from the end of this month (December).

The Trust has used external advisors – such as architects and other professionals – to help with the design and cost planning of the hospital’s development.

But it now says that until further funding for the development of their business case can be confirmed nationally that work cannot continue.

Back in October 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged £400m for the Watford redevelopment.

And since then bosses from the West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust have submitted an outline planning application to redevelop the Watford General site, off Vicarage Road – including three landmark blocks of up to 18-storeys.

They are among dozens of hospitals nationwide hoping to be funded as part of the government’s New Hospital Programme (NHP).

But despite the PM’s pledge, no firm funding decision has yet been taken by the NHP.

And the Trust – which is yet to submit a formal outline business case- is working to timescales set by the NHP.

Now it has been suggested to Trust board members that the NHP is focussing on earlier phases of the programme – dubbed ‘live schemes’ and ‘agile schemes’.

And ‘pathfinder schemes’ – of which Watford is one – are ‘receiving less attention’.

“The NHP focus is currently on phase 1 (live schemes) and 2 (agile schemes) and on the development of a programme business case for submission to the Treasury,” says the assurance report that was presented to a WHHT board meeting on Thursday (December 2).

“As such work with pathfinders and full follower schemes is receiving less attention and effectively remains on pause.”

But according to the assurance report to the board, the Trust “is no longer in a position to fund any further discretionary spend on the programme until funding has been confirmed.”

As a result, it says: “. . . all external advisory support will be stood down with effect 31st December 2021, with steps already being taken to reduce expenditure in November and December.”

And it accepts this may have an impact on the timetable of the redevelopment, stating: “This will inevitably delay the pace of progress on the OBC.”

In a further written update to the board meeting, deputy chief executive Helen Brown said the Trust had continued to develop its outline business case – with a recent focus on the detail of the options of each of the Trust’s three sites.

She said that the Trust’s ambition was to secure sufficient funding to replace the existing Princess Michael of Kent building (PMoK) with new-build clinical facilities – as well as new build women’s and children’s facilities.

However, she said the outline business case process required then to appraise a range of options – including retention and refurbishment of some or all of the existing buildings on the site.

She said they had hoped to complete the full costs benefits appraisal of all options early in 2022, enabling a formal preferred option for each site to be confirmed and the outline business case to be completed.

But acknowledging the limits of national timescales, she said: “This is now not possible due to national issues within the New Hospital Programme, including a lack of confirmed development funding to support further work on the business case in this financial year.

“It is currently, therefore, anticipated that the option appraisal will be completed by June and the outline business case towards the end of 2022, subject to approval to proceed and confirmation of funding from the New Hospital Programme to enable this time-line to be met.”

Following the meeting, Ms Brown said the Trust could only go as quickly as the national programme allowed.

And she said the Trust hoped to re-engage external advisors as soon as the funds to do so were available.

She said: “We are delighted to be in the pathfinder priority group of the government’s New Hospital Programme – this position demonstrates that the case has been made for significant investment to our hospital buildings.

“However, being in a national programme means that we can only go as fast as that programme allows.

“Currently, we – and all other pathfinders – are waiting to hear about the funding needed to pay some of the experts who have been supporting aspects of our proposals, such as design and cost planning.

“We very much hope to re-engage our external advisors as soon as the funds to do so are available.”

However Ms Brown also stressed that other aspects of the development plans would continue.

“Our plans have always been about so much more than our buildings,” she said.

“And we will continue to make progress on changes which make hospital services slicker and quicker – like bringing together several stages of treatment into a ‘one stop’ model of care and delivering emergency care differently, with specialist input at an early stage and a stronger focus on treatment which enables patients to return home as soon as possible.

“We remain excited by the prospect of delivering care differently and from new and better buildings and we are 100 per cent ready to pick up where we left off in some of the more technical aspects of our outline business case which are currently on hold.”

In response, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have committed to deliver 48 hospitals by 2030, backed by an initial £3.7 billion, in the biggest hospital building programme in a generation.

“The new hospitals will provide brand new, state-of-the-art facilities to ensure world-class healthcare services for NHS patients and staff.

“We are continuing to work very closely with all trusts to develop their plans.”