A public meeting is to be held to discuss major proposals for improving hospitals covering the St Albans district.
Local NHS organisations are reviewing health services in order to meet the rise in demand from a growing and ageing population.
They have completed the first phase which involved looking at options for enhancing emergency and acute care.
Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is leading the review with West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT). They will present their plans to the meeting on Wednesday 30 November.
Members of the public are invited to attend the event, hosted by the St Albans and Harpenden Patients Group (SPAG), and ask questions.
It will be held in Committee Room One at the Civic Centre, St Peter’s Street, St Albans, from 7pm.
The CCG and WHHT favour extensive redevelopment of both Watford General Hospital and St Albans City Hospital. They say it stands the best chance of success.
Emergency and specialised care would be carried out at Watford while planned care and diagnostic work would take place at St Albans. Facilities at both hospital sites, owned by WHHT, would be modernised.
Other options that have been suggested include the creation of a brand new hospital at a central location, possibly near Junction 20 of the M1. It is unclear, though, if enough money will be made available to fund this.
St Albans City and District Council voted in favour of a series of proposals at a meeting of the full Council last month (See: https://goo.gl/aQt4yZ).
Final decisions will have to be agreed at a national level given the amount of investment required.
NHS Improvement, NHS England and the Treasury will review the plans, submitted as part of a Sustainability and Transformation Plan for Hertfordshire and west Essex.
The strategic review of west Hertfordshire health services has been called Your Care, Your Future. It has a number of underlying aims.
These include reducing the number of hospital visits by 40% by 2024. Patients will instead be cared for closer to their homes.
Another guiding principle is integrating services with new health and wellbeing hubs serving local communities.
John Wigley, Chair of the St Albans Patients Group, said: “This meeting will focus on some of the biggest developments ever to be made in health services in the area.
“I am hoping it will be very well attended because I am sure many local people will want to hear what is being proposed and hold our health leaders to account.”
Councillor Robert Donald is Chair of St Albans District Health and Wellbeing Partnership, an umbrella organisation that seeks to improve local services.
He urged people to come along to the meeting and raise any issues they may have with the CCG proposals.
He said: “Very important decisions about the district’s health services that will affect people for decades to come are about to be made. It is vital that residents are fully aware of what is at stake and what is being put forward so they can comment now before it is too late.
“This meeting will give residents an opportunity to be fully briefed about the proposals for improving our hospital services which have come under a lot of strain in recent years.
“It also gives people the chance to ask any questions they may have and let their voice be heard whether they agree or not with the clinical commissioning group’s preferred option.”
The proposals backed by St Albans City and District Councillors include a preference for the creation of a new hospital for emergency and acute care.
However, the Council recognised that the CCG and WHHT plan for the Watford and City hospitals might still happen if funding was not obtained for a completely new hospital.
Councillors wanted to ensure the City Hospital still had a prominent role in the CCG and WHHT option.
Additionally, they backed the creation of a health and wellbeing hub at Harpenden’s Memorial Hospital site.
More information Your Care, Your Future is available at: http://www.yourcareyourfuture.org.uk/