Prime minister Boris Johnson visits Watford General Hospital and announces £400m funding
Posted: 10 October 2019
West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT) and Herts Valleys CCG welcomed a visit from prime minister Boris Johnson at Watford General Hospital on Monday 7 October. The visit confirmed that the trust would receive £400m from the government’s capital funding to help redevelop its buildings and facilities.
Patients and staff can now look forward to receiving and providing care in modern surroundings and will be able to see a real improvement for patient care.
West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust and Herts Valleys CCG said:
"We were delighted to hear the announcement that the trust would be receiving £400m for hospital redevelopment. This is in response to the submission of our strategic outline case (SOC), following a lengthy period of engagement with local people. This is excellent news and we are extremely proud to achieve this milestone for our patients and staff.
"We are working closely with government and regulators to find out more about the detail. In the meantime, we do know that the funding will be made available on the basis, as expected, that this operates like a loan and there will certainly need to be repayments. We also understand that the investment will be into current sites as per our proposals – for a major refurbishment and rebuild at Watford General Hospital, together with development for St Albans and Hemel Hempstead hospitals.
"There will also be a process we need to follow – there will be more scrutiny of proposals by regulators, and the trust and CCG will be developing more detailed plans over the coming months. We are keen to continue talking to local people about the evolving plans and we will share more of the detail as this as this emerges."
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Notes to editors
- For more information, please contact the communications team on: 01923 436280 or email: wherts-tr.communications@nhs.net. For out of hours media enquiries please call the Watford General Hospital switchboard on 01923 244366 and ask for the on call communications manager.
- West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust serves people from across Hertfordshire, north London and further afield. It operates from three hospitals; Watford General, St Albans City and Hemel Hempstead. The trust has a catchment area of over 500,000 people and is one of the largest employers locally, with around 5,000 staff and volunteers.
- For more information about our hospitals, visit www.westhertshospitals.nhs.uk. You can also join our followers on Twitter (twitter.com/westhertsNHS) and find us on Facebook (facebook.com/westhertsNHS).
