West Herts' Chief Executive Matthew Coats.
We were delighted to host the Health Minister Karin Smyth on a visit to Watford General Hospital where she underlined the government’s support for building a new hospital by saying she wanted to ‘get on with it as soon as possible’.
Ms Smyth was joined by our local Watford MP Matt Turmaine for a tour of the hospital site, where work will soon begin on a £12m programme of enabling works to prepare the site for the new hospital.
The government announced in January that Watford would be fully funded under its New Hospital Programme. Watford General was also given the green light to continue to progress its scheme, including enabling works and the retention of a specialist project team.
After the visit, the Minister praised West Herts staff as she stood next to the model of the new hospital.
“I really want to thank the leadership and the staff I've met here today at Watford for the work that they are doing to serve this wonderful local community.”
“And I know they're working in really difficult circumstances, with the buildings that we have inherited. I know people are desperate for change in that building, and we are committed to the new hospital, so today I've been able to see where it will go, this fantastic model, and I want to get on with that as soon as possible.
“But I'm also so impressed with the work they've done here to be able to get up that table of A&E performance. I've met the team at A&E today, looking at the flow throughout the hospital - that's really impressive work in the circumstances that they are working.
“Thank you for everything that people are doing here. I really appreciate it.”
During the visit, the Minister spoke to our brilliant teams in A&E, the control room and the Ridge Ward. She then toured our award-winning virtual hospital which uses wearable technology to monitor and look after people from the comfort of their own homes. The Minister heard how the Trust was now consistently one of the best performing in the country, and last year moved up nearly 100 places in national league tables for Accident and Emergency waiting times – despite record demand for services.
Our chief executive, Matthew Coats, said: “We hugely appreciated the time the Minister and Matt Turmaine took to visit us and the strong interest they showed in our work and the progress we’ve made.”