Watford General Hospital Redevelopment

Indicative Hospital Scheme for information only

Consultation on draft proposals

Thank you for your feedback on the Watford General Hospital Redevelopment consultation. The virtual public consultation period closed at 5pm on Friday 23rd April 2021, and we are now in the process of reviewing and analysing your responses to feed into the planning application.

Information on the draft proposals and links to the recorded live events can still be accessed below. 

Background

BDP has been working with West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust to prepare and submit an outline planning application for the reconfiguration of clinical services across the trust’s three sites in Watford, Hemel Hempstead and St Albans. The hospitals provide services to a population of approximately 500,000 people living in Hertfordshire and north London and are in urgent need of investment, with the trust in line to receive much-needed funding to redevelop its buildings and facilities.

Creating a distinct role for each site is at the heart of the plans:

• Watford General Hospital - emergency and urgent care, women’s and children’s services and complex surgery, inpatient wards and other services, including diagnostic facilities.
• St Albans City Hospital - a centre for surgery and cancer care with plans to provide urgent care and diagnostic facilities.
• Hemel Hempstead Hospital - site for long term conditions as well as an urgent treatment centre, and diagnostic facilities.

Watford General Hospital Vision

Whilst a hospital is a functional building it should be a healing environment that enhances the experience of patients, staff and visitors. The redevelopment of Watford General Hospital provides a unique opportunity to deliver state of the art hospital facilities and create a place where the architecture and the landscape improve the experience of patients, staff and visitors. The vision for the development draws on its location on the edge of the Colne Valley to provide a green and biodiverse landscape that connects into surrounding existing and new communities, and seeks to create a hospital fit for the 21st century that places the user at the centre of the design.

Watford General Hospital - Outline Planning Application

An Outline Planning Application for the proposed redevelopment of Watford General Hospital is targeted for submission in Spring 2021. This is the largest of the trust’s three sites and cares for the highest number of patients.

The proposals see the majority of services – including emergency care, women’s and children’s services and inpatient wards – moving into a new building which will house nearly all of the clinical services currently provided on the site.

This is envisaged to create numerous public benefits, including the following:

• Reconfiguration of services and new technology, with more ‘one stop’ clinics where several steps on a treatment pathway are covered in one visit
• Improved services including emergency care, outpatients, endoscopy, maternity and surgery
• New facilities and improved diagnostics
• Best practice designs to control infection
• Improving the health and wellbeing of the local and wider populations
• Creating a pleasant place and a strong local identity for the hospital and community
• Connecting the hospital with the existing community of Watford through improved access and sensitive design
• Retaining a major local employer by reproviding the existing Watford General Hospital with a new facility

Virtual Public Consultation

To help inform the planning process and decision-making, the trust held a virtual public consultation on the emerging plans. The virtual public consultation provided an opportunity to see and comment on the current proposals before they are finalised and the planning application is submitted.

The virtual public consultation period closed on Friday 23rd April 2021.

Information on the proposed design can still be viewed below and in full here.

Virtual Live Events

As part of the engagement process a number of virtual events were held throughout the public consultation period. Members of the trust and BDP team answered questions on the new hospital, its design and construction, and proposed improvements to clinical services.

You can access the recorded live events by following the below links:

• Launch event of the exhibition, including presentation of the proposals and Q&A – Friday 26th March from 12.00 to 13.30. Click here to watch recorder event.
• Presentation of the proposals and Q&A – Wednesday 31st March from 18.00 to 19.30. Click here to watch recorder event.
• Presentation of the proposals and Q&A – Tuesday 20th April from 10.00 to 11.30. Click here to watch recorder event.