Preparation work for new hospital under way

Work to prepare a site for the rebuilding of a town's hospital has begun.

A huge crane has been brought to Watford General Hospital to remove a suite of temporary buildings as part of the £12m preparation project, which will also include the installation of a new oxygen supply system.

Watford's Labour MP Matt Turmaine said the government was committed to the hospital rebuild and called this step "the first real, big sign of progress".

But Liberal Democrat elected mayor of Watford Peter Taylor described a completion date of 2038 "at the earliest" as "not good enough".

Getting the rebuild of Watford General Hospital under way has been a painful process.

It was one of the 40 "new" hospitals to be built by 2030, as part of a project announced by Boris Johnson in 2020.

Rishi Sunak's administration confirmed three years later the scheme would be fully funded by the government and completed by 2030.

But a report from the National Audit Office in January concluded the Watford rebuild would not be complete before 2038.

The arrival of the crane is the most visible indication of work actually starting.

It will lift nearly 80 portable cabins, which made up the Granger Suite, on to lorries so they can be restored and reused elsewhere.

An access road will be built in the space left by the removal of the cabins.

The installation of the new oxygen supply system will take place over the next 18 months, and surveys and ground investigations will be carried out.

Watford's Labour MP Matt Turmaine visited the site last week and said the crane was "the first real, big visual sign of progress on the £12m enabling work programme funded by the government".

He added the government was "committed to building it, providing funding and keeping the project team working to deliver it".

Allison Phillips, the chief redevelopment officer at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "The arrival of the crane is another important step towards building the new hospital our local community, patients and staff deserve."

Peter Taylor, the Liberal Democrat elected mayor of Watford, said: "Any progress on this project is good news. However, the government's plan is for the construction of the new hospital to only start in 2032 and for this to be completed in 2038, at the earliest.

"This isn't good enough. We have waited so long for Watford General to be rebuilt, and this must happen as soon as possible."

Visible evidence of progress will no doubt be welcomed by many people in Watford, but some may be sceptical about any timetable now, given the failure of the original 2030 target.

Others have called for a new hospital to be built in a more central location in West Hertfordshire, rather than Watford.

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