Trust considers closing hospital in favour of new integrated hub

Hemel Hempstead Hospital, run by West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust, would be vacated under new proposals laid out in the trust’s board papers.

The trust had previously been planning to refurbish the site through redevelopment plans in the government’s new hospitals programme. 

Services at the site include an urgent care centre, medical inpatient beds, endoscopy, diagnostic imaging and outpatients services.

Draft documents setting out the future model of services in Hemel Hempstead were presented to the trust board on Thursday. 

These say the trust plans to establish a centre for planned care, diagnostic and outpatient services. The documents say this could be on the existing hospital site or on a new purpose-built campus in the town centre, with involvement from Dacorum Borough Council. The proposals are thought to be at an early stage. 

A report to the trust board tomorrow says: “Until recently, plans for the future of HHH [Hemel Hempstead hospital] were centred around the further rationalisation of the current hospital site…

“The potential for WHTH’s services to be delivered from a new healthcare facility in Hemel Hempstead would allow the trust to vacate the Hemel Hempstead site completely and release the full site for redevelopment.”

Jane Halpin, chief executive of Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board, said: “Initial investigations of the site show us it would be possible to bring a range of services together to better serve the local community. The next step is to explore further how services currently on the Hemel Hempstead hospital site, as well as primary care and potentially mental health and community services, could be brought together into a purpose-built and accessible facility.”