Annual Report 2004-2005:Building a Strong Future
Investing in Your
Health
Ophthalmology Unit for
St Albans
One-stop Breast Service
move to St Albans
A time for choice
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a printable version of the Trust's 2004/05 Annual Report
Investing in Your Health
Investing in Your Health iss a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the local NHS to provide modern, local, excellent health services. Investing in Your Health is not simply about providing new hospital facilities, but will change the way we use our hospitals.
At Watford, approximately £323m will be invested in the major redevelopment of the hospital site to provide new hospital facilities through the ‘Private Finance Initiative’ or PFI. The NHS has generally not proven itself to be a good manager of buildings, with the levels of investment needed to maintain essential buildings frequently being diverted to support financial overspends in other areas.
We need to hear from members of the public if we are to achieve our intention of having a well-designed hospital that the local communities want to use. There will be many other opportunities made available to patients and the public to join in with the design process as we go through it with the architect and planners. The construction programme will take around three years to complete and will start in 2009 so we expect the new hospital to open in 2012-2013.
On top of this, we are working with other organisations in Watford to develop something called the ‘Watford Health Campus’. With our other partners, including Watford Borough Council, Watford & Three Rivers PCT, and Watford Football Club, we have a vision which demonstrates a way of developing new facilities on the existing Watford General Hospital site and neighbouring land, whilst regenerating this area and its surroundings. As partners we are seeking to improve public transport (tube/ bus) as well as improving access for cars and of course, car parking.
For more details call 01442 287615 or visit www.watfordhealthcampus.info
Ophthalmology Unit for St Albans
A purpose-built Ophthalmology Unit has opened its doors to patients at St Albans City Hospital. General clinics, one-stop cataract clinics, pre-operative and post-operative clinics as well as ophthalmic surgery (except for emergency and Paediatrics) now take place here.
One-stop Breast Service to move to St Albans
As part of the Trust’s ongoing plans to improve patient services, the breast service will be relocated this summer to a new purpose-built unit within St Albans City Hospital. The new unit, which has cost over £1.2 million pounds to develop, will have state of the art equipment. Patients will be seen in designated breast clinics and the unit will be staffed by a team of healthcare professionals including Surgeons, Oncologists, Radiologists, Breast Care Nurses, a Data Manager and other trained nurses. The service will be supported by dedicated secretarial staff.
A time for choice
The ability for patients to book their hospital appointment has brought about many benefits including a reduction in the number of did not attends (DNAs), avoiding the loss of appointment or operation slots. This in turn has led to significant reduction in waiting times for patients’ planned operations as well as out-patient appointments. Booking is currently available for all patients having operations, and by December 2005 will be available to all outpatients.
Modernising the way we work is already happening.
