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The News that affects YOU! ** LATEST NEWS FROM NATIONAL PRESS ** - Click on the articles below for full stories from the publisher... Wednesday 19th December 2007 - New boss admits the Trust has failed and is obsessed by money Save Hemel.com : More and more people will potentially come to harm as our Hospital service is broken up. We must all speak together, now to pull apart the Hospital Trust. New Boss, Mr Filochowski has not stopped closure plans and acknowledges the system has failed on it current plans. We must all now back a move to evict the entire Hospital Trust. People have spoken and are saying the closure of our Hospital services affects our right to life - many believe their acts are against our Human Rights. We must not let them continue with misleading terms such as 'Local General Hospital' which means nothing more than a small Doctors surgery - To the trust: we are not fools - and we do not accept your distrustful and distructive nature any more. Prepare to have the people stand together and prevent your actions in every legal way possible. CLICK TO COMMENT... This is Hertfordshire Hospital boss admits failings A FLAGSHIP new surgery centre in St Albans has been overwhelmed with serious problems with hundreds of operations cancelled, new hospital chief Jan Filochowski has admitted. The Elective Care Centre, which opened at St Albans City Hospital in September to treat patients across west Hertfordshire, was already struggling to cope by the time of its grand opening by Mayor Kate Morris on October 12. Badly planned and understaffed, the centre was seeing as many as five per cent of procedures routinely cancelled. Mr Filochowski, an NHS troubleshooter appointed last month as chief executive of the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "This is a good facility, but it has had really serious problems - that became apparent almost immediately. "People said we had teething problems, but I realised it was much more than that." Thanks to his efforts to recruit new theatre staff, cancellation rates have recently improved to 2.5 per cent, but that still means around 20 patients a week are being sent home untreated. And with theatre staff in short supply nationally, it could be as long as three months before the centre is working as it should. Ironically, the Elective Care Centre was opened partly to avoid cancellations by separating planned operations from emergency care. Mr Filochowski said: "We did not think through the way it would work. "We did not staff it enough - we were so concerned with saving money. A number of staff from Watford or Hemel Hempstead decided they did not want to work in St Albans and we did not allow for that." Managers have found themselves desperately ringing round to staff the next day's operations, spending huge sums on expensive agency workers. And with the trust under government pressure to perform all cancelled operations within 28 days, it has been forced to spend even more money transferring patients to private hospitals. St Albans MP Anne Main said: "The real problem here has been a schedule which is too ambitions, causing operations to be cancelled due to staff shortages. ...Mr Filochowski, who has been appointed on an interim basis after a devastating Healthcare Commission report led to the resignation of his predecessor David Law, is insisting bosses planning new facilities in Watford learn from the St Albans debacle. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Herts 24 QE2 'death warrant' to be signed today. THE QE2 Hospital as we know it will be pronounced dead today. Health chiefs will gather at a crunch meeting to read the last rites for the WGC hospital. The NHS pall-bearers will ride roughshod over public opinion as they declare a new lease of life for the Lister in Stevenage. It means major services, such as maternity and A&E, will be moved up the jam-packed A1(M) motorway. The QE2, which is just 44 years old, may then be resurrected as a local general hospital. This is the expected outcome of today's D-Day meeting of the four NHS trust and PCT boards which cover the county. Mourners will gather to pay their last respects at the Fielder Centre in Hatfield where, firstly, the final report on the public consultation will be presented. Hopes of an 11th hour stay of execution for the QE2 were all but dashed when these papers were published last week. ...TODAY is a bleak one for the people of Welwyn Hatfield. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Hemel Online Hospital troubleshooter admits serious problems. The new hospital boss in West Herts has admitted to 'serious problems' following the decision to shift planned surgery to St Albans. Jan Filochowski, an NHS troubleshooter appointed a month ago to turn around West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust, says 40 operations a week - or five per cent - were being cancelled when he arrived. He says this is because theatre staff in Hemel Hempstead and Watford have quit rather than work in St Albans. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Tuesday 18th December 2007 - As Hemel explodes again, the people demand a full Hemel Hempstead Hospital to avoid massive tolls on our lives. Chiltern FM : Hemel Fire Peoples lives were put at serious risk today when a large waste and recycling plant in Hemel Hempstead industrial estate caught fire and proceeded to burn through highly flammable materials, diesel fuel tanks. Local residents who feared a repeat of the Buncefield Oil Depot explosion and fire tried to escape from the local area, whilst major roads such as the M1 and A41 became blocked with congestion and accidents as people escaped and watched the blaze. MP Mike Penning was at the scene and praised the emergency services and Fire Brigade that attended, whilst drawing attention to the risk to life posed as Hospital facilities are closed in a town facing major industrial and residential growth. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Save Hemel.com : Personal View : More and more people start to panic about the people in charge of our Hospital services and continue to demand the Trusts resignation. Its frightening to think this is our second major warning that we need a Hemel Hempstead Hospital with all facilities including acute care, A&E and childrens services. The A41 was severely congested as was the M1, which would have cause potential dealths if people needed urgent hospital care. SaveHemel.com have asked how many major distasters can Hemel suffer before we realise that our emergency services are essential - and should not be based far away next to busy football stadiums. Thank God no one was seriously hurt. Hemel is a major industrial and populated new town, with massive plans to expand it further. We must surely now realise that our hospital is essential and cannot be taken from us - because if it is, then the next to be taken would probably be our lives and the lives of our families and friends. CLICK TO COMMENT... Save Hemel.com : Personal Story : Whilst Hemel Hempstead Hospital staff work hard, Watford Hospital staff continue to suffer long hours and over-stretched and failing services which causes major and potentially lethal stress to a pregnant woman. In june last year <2006> i developed a cist, extreamly large and very painful. as hemel "didnt have the STAFF" i had to travel by mini bus (supplied by the hospital) horrible unconfortble thing... to watford hospital. i did not want to go there at all any way as a few of my friends had bad experiences there with labour and i had heard other stories (none of them good) about the staff and the hospital in general. so i didnt really get seen to for a few hours and i know i only got a bed by chance. they were packed full on the ward i was on. any way i was examined EVENTUALY and was told i would need an opperation that day. so i waited and waited in agony the whole time untill finally i had my operation just after midnight that night. when i came round the first thing i wanted to know was if my baby was ok (i was 4 months pregnant at the time) they then told me, you wont hear the heart beat yet its too early in the pregnancy. i know that they had lied to my face because i had already had the heart beat checked 4 times just that day because of the pain relief i was having. they continued to fob me off well into the after noon. i couldnt sleep i just cried because i thort that they knew that something bad had happened to my baby while i was having the opp. then finally around 3 in the afternoon a nurse came and asked why i was crying, and i explained that they wouldnt check my baby, and she said no problem ill do it now. and she did and my baby was fine. it took all of 30 seconds for her to put my mind at ease. also the attitude of the 2 nurses that were supposidly """LOOKING AFTER ME""" were disgusting, i was talked down to and practicly laughed at because i was in so much pain and they didnt believe me. hemel deserves its own hospital i am appaled that it may not be saved. disgusting. i will NOT be using watford again. i wouldnt even have an animal treated there this is just my view of the watford hospital but i have 2 children and i wouldnt want my kids to be treated that way! I want to keep hospital services in Dacorum: on Closure of Hemel Hempstead Hospital facilities are against my human rights: on CLICK TO COMMENT... Save Hemel.com : Personal Story : Hemel Hempstead Hospital continues to serve whilst those in charge continue to pull apart the peoples life support services. Last friday i was rushed by my partner to hemel hospital unable to breathe and being 19 weeks pregnant added to my distress, luckly we were only 5 minutes away and i was taken straight through to resus. The staff were brilliant and soon established i had a collapsed lung, the nurse taken care or me in resus was great and kept us informed every step of the way, she said it was good that we got there as quick as we did as the oxygen in my blood was getting less and less, i asked her (and a porter) if they were going to move onto watford when the hospital closed and they both said no, it seems such a shame to lose porters,doctors and nurses not to mention all the people we dont see in this way, good forbid anything happening to my children or any child in hemel . I want to keep hospital services in Dacorum: on I think Trust bosses should quit: on Closure of Hemel Hempstead Hospital facilities are against my human rights: on CLICK TO COMMENT... Friday 14th December 2007 - The path of distruction spreads further as the rot sets in... This is Hertfordshire : QEII campaign looks doomed. HEALTH chiefs are almost certain to relocate emergency treatment from the QEII Hospital to Stevenage's Lister when they meet on Wednesday. An official recommendation to the board of Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust in favour of the Lister is contained in papers published today. The decision would fly face of the majority of consultation responses and a vigorous local campaign backing the Welwyn Garden City hospital, and could well be challenged in the courts. Another key recommendation backs the continuation of planned surgery at St Albans City Hospital rather than in Hemel Hempstead. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Sunday 13th December 2007 - And they said their actions have no relevant impact on human life... Herts 24 : Stroke victim's long wait. A STROKE victim has been waiting for more than a month for a scan which could save his life. David Atkinson, aged 65, of New House Park, St Albans, suffered a stroke in November and was taken to Hemel Hempstead Hospital where he received exemplary treatment. But he was subsequently told by his consultant that although he needed an MRI scan, that could be some weeks away. However, it was important that he had a Control Doppler ultra scan on his arteries which would show if there were any signs of blockage and could be dealt with straightaway. That was nearly five weeks ago and Mr Atkinson was still waiting for an appointment. Even though he had put in numerous phone calls to the stroke unit at Hemel Hempstead, he had not been given an appointment for the scan at Watford General. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Friday 30th November 2007 - SUPRISE SURPRISE : And the thing people are concerned about most? Not making it in time when they try to pull down our Hospital services Borehamwood and Elstree Times : The big picture of health. Transport links and hospital parking were the main issues Hertfordshire residents raised at a health consultation meeting last week. More than 100 representatives of community organisations, patient groups and local authorities gathered last Monday to hear the findings of the Delivering Quality Health Care for Hertfordshire consultation. During the consultation, which ran from June to October, more than 6,000 questionnaires were returned, along with more than 300 letters and emails from residents and community organisations. The most common concerns emerging from the responses, as well as feedback received through public events, were about travelling distance to hospitals and car parking provision. Sixty per cent of respondents expressed opposition to the proposed centralisation of children's emergency care and surgery for West Hertfordshire residents to Watford General Hospital. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Friday 30th November 2007 - New boss, same old (dis)Trust. Herts 24 : Strong medicine for hospital ills. MAJOR problems are besetting St Albans City Hospital as it settles into its new role as a planned surgery unit, and centralising emergency care at Watford will be a "massive task". Who says so? None other than the new interim chief executive of the beleagured West Herts Hospital Trust (WHHT) Jan Filochowski who has been in post for just three weeks. In his first interview since being parachuted in to restore the fortunes of WHHT which emerged as one of the four worst Trusts in the country in recent Healthcare Commission tables, he is under few illusions about the size of the task he faces. But the fact that he believes it can be turned around within a year says a lot not just about the man himself but also the plight of WHHT. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Wednesday 28th November 2007 - The Trust is speaking KlEarLy - We know what we mean, you don't have to. Confused? Hemel Online : Fact or fiction leaflet fails to allay hospital closure fears. An NHS leaflet intended to clarify the future of Hemel Hempstead Hospital has caused confusion by implying the site is closing. Patients and visitors have been left scratching their heads over the handout, which suggests it is a fiction that the hospital is not closing and states both a fact and a fiction that the changes will produce better healthcare. Entitled Fact or Fiction the pamphlet states: 'Fiction: The hospital is not closing'. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Wednesday 24th October 2007 - Health 'Chief' David Law was just a fall guy. Public and the local MP all DEMAND total resignation of Hospital Trust Board Hemel Today : Law is 'fall guy' says MP in call for all management team to go. MP Mike Penning has renewed his call for the entire hospital management team to go in the wake of David Law's departure. The MP says Mr Law has been made the 'fall guy' for the deep-rooted failings at West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust. In a fresh blow to the trust the Audit Commission, a finance watchdog, has given it the lowest possible rating for its financial affairs, describing it as having 'inadequate performance'. This follows hard on the heels of findings by the Healthcare Commission which put it in the bottom five per cent of trusts in the country for quality of services and use of resources. "What are the other board members doing?" he said. "They sat there while this was going on. "David Law is gone, but that is part of the problem not all of the problem." Veteran campaigner Zena Bullmore said: "He destroyed Hemel hospital, when it has the best buildings in Hertfordshire and the best position in West Herts for access, transport and roads. "I have never understood what was behind it all. "Patients, nurses and doctors must come before money and deficits if healthcare is to work. "That was forgotten by David Law and his team. He got through 10 chief finance officers in his three years." CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Save Hemel.com : We want the trust to admit they are all to blame and do the only decent thing they can and resign. For years we have followed the health trusts gross abuse of power at the top. During their time they have created massive debts and closed services. We have heard that 'extra investment' has been made during their time, but all they have created is chaos and substantial mental and physical pain for patients, family and staff. A day does not pass without the trusts own demoralised hospital staff speaking out against their intended destruction of Hospital services. Ambulance chiefs tell us there is no difference in journey time, whilst the ambulance drivers regularly snubb trust chiefs and admit the system is in absolute meltdown. Whilst services are moved, the public picks up the transport and consequential environmental tab - it costs hundreds of thousands in extra fuel to get sick and dying adults and children to services miles away. As a member of the public declared in a recent 'Trust meeting in public' "How can you expect us to trust you when you don't even have the trust or faith of any of your own staff?". Following an ovation from the attending public, the Trust responded by showing us a list of services in Watford - once again showing they were probably listening to headphones instead of any member of the public they serve and obtain tax to pay their salaries from. One member of the public said 'When I went to the meeting, I was deeply concerned. What made me realise these people really did live in their own world was when they said to be it was nice to see someone young interested in the hospital for a change instead of just older people. I was shocked! They obviously are totally ignorant of the 5,500 young people that have joined the online petition and action group at www.myspace.com/hemelhempsteadtown - proving that it isnt just David Law that is responsible for failure." Another lady at the same meeting described how IT systems had failed during an urgent x-ray of a young child. After being sent to Watford and then sent all over the hospital, the consultant or doctor that was booked to look at the x-ray couldn't get the x-ray up on his PC and on calling the IT department heard an automated message instructing them to wait until the next working day for support - leaving the child in pain without suitable treatment. One man may certainly have taken the fall, but that is not enough - the rest of the trust should go now. To the trust we say this - We, the public demand your resignation - understand that we have served you notice and expect you to leave along with your chairman. We will no longer accept woodworm in our Health service. Hospitals are about LIFE. Our lives - that we shall vigerously defend. CLICK TO COMMENT... Hemel Today : Broken promises and cuts behind Law's departure. David Law joined West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust in 2001 as director of planning and performance, though he has worked in the NHS in the area since 1998. His arrival at the trust came just two years after campaigners claimed a success in their long battle to keep full services in Hemel Hempstead when a health minister ruled out a new 'superhospital' for West Hertfordshire. It was ordered that acute services should remain in both Hemel Hempstead and Watford 'for the foreseeable future'. But in 2001 proposals were drawn up to close maternity services and the special care baby unit in Hemel Hempstead, on the grounds there were not enough staff to run a safe service. The threat drew one of the strongest reactions from the community in recent times. In December of that year an unprecedented 52,000-signature petition was delivered to 10 Downing Street against the move. However, the departments were temporarily closed for a period of time 'on safety grounds' before a permanent shutdown in 2002. In his position as director of planning, Mr Law must have played a major part in these decisions. In the same year the infamous Investing In Your Health consultation was launched with the aim of reducing the number of acute sites in Hertfordshire. There was another groundswell of support for the hospital with a 23,000-signature petition and the Hands Around The Hospital demonstration attended by thousands. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Monday 22nd October 2007 - DAVID LAW GONE, NOW PUBLIC DEMAND TOM HANAHOE AND OTHER BOARD MEMBERS SHOULD GO. Save Hemel.com : Public group together in a mass and demand resignation of the rest of the Trust Board and for closed services to be reinstated and plans to sell Hospital land and buildings to be scrapped following the admission of failure and responsibility of previous Trust boss. Since the Herts Hospital Trust boss David Law quit following massive pressure from the public, press and MPs, the public have renewed their fight to keep Hospital services open across Dacorum. The public are now calling for the resignation of Tom Hanahoe and other trust bosses and for the appointment of true 'guardians of our health' to safe guard our basic human right to full local services that we pay for. A major music event dubbed 'Health Aid Dacorum' is being planned to raise funds and support. We want to hear YOUR VIEWS now, CLICK to COMMENT or call 0870 896 59 52 to make your comment! CLICK FOR FULL STORY... What follows are personal letters regarding the Hospital Trust and the threat to our healthcare services. Savehemel.com would like to hear your comments. "I have been a Labour voter much of my life, and even during the recent Hospital abuses, I have continued to believe that Hospital closure and restructuring was caused by non-political civil servants. How wrong I have been. My father received a circular from the local Labour party with words clearly saying the hospital is not closing. If maintaining a glorified 24 hour GP surgery is a full hospital service, then she is correct - but a hospital is a much greater and more important thing than a glorified GP surgery. The newsletter was nothing more than a lie - a political game. I feel shamed to have supported a party that has done this. It is wrong and is a gross abuse of our basic human rights to remove local health services that we both pay for and rely upon. Note the word local - distance often has a significant deciding factor when life is at stake and also how much time we can spend with loved ones in care - as has been seen in recent news articles and from my own personal experience. A man recently stood up in a Hospital meeting with the Trust and implied that all Hospital campaigners were merely Conservative voters trying to stir up trouble. Well, a conservative voter I have not been. In fact, although most hospital campaigners leave the political noise out of protest, many are (or were) Labour supporters to my knowledge - making this argument very silly indeed. I question his reason for making such a statement. The reason heated arguments have taken place at hospital meetings is not because of political stunts - it is because people that have followed changes and proposals are not only worried, they are scared of the impact to life, and as in my case have been subject to the consequences of the closures that have taken place and are intended to take place. I am deeply concerned that this should not become 'just more political currency' and should be taken as a very serious life changing issue that is currently being treated only as a financial concern. We have been completely aware that we, the public have been misled by countless presentations of 'modernisation' options describing benefits of so called 'new services' with closures needed to fund them. In fact, these benefits have long existed, such as having local full A&E including childrens' services and special care maternity facilities at local hospitals. Many services have been closed on the newest of sites leaving old and outdated facilities in faraway places. What is given with one hand already existed, whilst the other hand take away continually. David Law was nothing more than a hatchet man. Someone chosen for the unpopular task of disembowelling our Hospital System at great cost and loss so that it can be shown as failing - with the only option being to embrace 'new investment'. It is an engineered dream that shamefully relies on the public simply playing along like a willing and loyal dog. We are not that foolish - we can see as clear as day what has been done and what will happen next. A scape goat is not enough - we need new custodians of our paid for local health services. Don't misread what I have said - I am in favour of modernisation and progression - but what has happened under the Health 'Trust' has been neither and will continue to be nothing more than an engineered closure for a purpose that is currently unclear. Whatever its intended end after assuming the value of the land hospitals are sited on, we need to fight now to prevent any more closures and to reopen services at our local hospitals. Furthermore, we need to dispel the lies spread by those only interested in party based politics. Our Hospital is still at risk, and our motivation is our lives." Even though key speakers were late to a hospital trust meeting in Watford (over 45mins) due to traffic, they lied and said it was very rare. It's not rare - it happens ALL THE TIME. My daughter was extremely ill May last year and was transferred to Watford from Hemel. The A41 was blocked by an accident so the ambulance driver had to go out to to the MI south . When we got to Watford it was gridlocked due to a Cup match. When we finally got to Vicarage road the police refused to allow the ambulance through despite the blue flashing light. We then faced a further 20 minute detoour around the time. The ambulance driver said it was a regular problem - the A41 , the M1 , Watford's Ring Road and match days. Below is another letter asking for the resignation of all trust bosses. Just replying to ensure that we do everything to force ALL Trust bosses to resign. They are an absolute disgrace and the reason for our hospital going towareds closure! I was also appalled at the story of Mrs Ritchie trying to reach Watford hospital to see her ill husband. Anyway why would you want to close one hospital before the selected alternative has the capacity to deal with more emergencies? It is not logical and this just would not happen if this was in the private sector. The following letter describes how someone was affected when they were forced to give birth at Watford even though Hemel Hospital was in eyesight. Only a few short weeks before I was due to give birth, the birthing centre at Hemel Hospital was closed. A handwritten note taped to the door of the unit informed other expectant mothers and I than our ante-natal classes would continue, but to actually give birth we would have to travel to Watford hospital instead. Our class teacher told us it was due to staff illness. The next week it was staff shortages. Then we discovered that part of the unit was being used as offices. There was so much uncertainty and worry - the last thing that you need when you're 8 months gone! My five minute trip down the road to Hemel hospital was going to be a trek to Watford instead. It wasn't so bad when my waters broke in the middle of the night - that was almost a pleasant journey watching the snow fall as my husband sped along the bypass. This was February 2006 - quite a cold winter month for travelling. The midwifery staff were great - just a little while monitoring me and then we were sent back home - I felt every bump in those roads, worse for the four contractions I had on the way. I would only have had two at the most had we only had to come home to Adeyfield from Hemel Hospital. The journey back to Watford in the morning took one hour thanks to the rush hour traffic - and we left home at 7am! Fortunately my husband could drive over or round the bumps slower, but we were both gritting our teeth and shaking like leaves by the time we arrived at Watford hospital. We were bitterly cold and very stressed from trying not to imagine what it would be like to deliver our first child on the A41 in the snow! Fortunately, our daughter was born in the Alexandra Birthing Centre at a healthy 5lbs, 1oz that afternoon. I had always wanted for our daughter to be born in Hemel Hempstead - we've a family tradition: my mum was one of the first babies to be born in the new town of Hemel Hempstead. I was born here as were my sister, my husband, his brother and more of our extended families. And what's written on my little girls birth certificate: Watford. A wonderful birthing unit on our own doorstep with state of the art equipment getting dusty and my child is born miles away in a hospital than I can only describe as dingy. Young, old and inbetween, all walks of life are standing together on this issue. Come Health Secretaries, Please heed the call Don't stand in the doorway Don't block up the hall For he that is David Law Will be he who has stalled There's a battle outside And it is DHAG. It'll soon shake your windows And rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin'! The health system and old ways that governed our hospital have 'changed their sheets'. This is a clear indication that all we fought against, the denials and spin that attempted to cut us down were proved wrong. We must encourage the new Health Minister and Hospital Trust Chief Exec to ignore the mal-treatment of the hospital of the past and start afresh. Saturday 20th October 2007 - HEALTH 'CHIEF' DAVID LAW RESIGNS Hemel Online : Hospital boss resigns The man in charge of running Hemel Hempstead Hospital has suddenly resigned. David Law, chief executive at West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust, has stepped down in the face of damning results from an inspection. The debt-ridden trust has been rated 'weak' for both use of resources and services by the Healthcare Commission. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Watford Observer : Hospital chief resigns David Law, the man in charge of Watford General Hospital for the past three years, has resigned as chief executive of West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust. The announcement, in a statement released at 5.45pm today, followed calls for his resignation by Watford MP Claire Ward and Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning, after the publication of a Healthcare Commission report that rated the Trust as 'weak'. It also ranked the Trust as one of the worst performing in the country. Mr Law said: "It is with great regret that I resign from the Trust. My time here has been challenging but I think I leave the Trust in a better position than I found it. "It is only right though that the responsibility for failings identified by the Healthcare Commission falls on the Chief Executive. I look forward to a bright future for the patients and staff of this Trust and I will miss the people and the place." CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Friday 19th October 2007 - MPs DEMAND TRUST BOSS SHOULD QUIT OR BE SACKED - DAVID LAW - ONE OF THE MEN BEHIND MONEY DRIVEN CLOSURES AND HOSPITAL LAND SELL-OFFS. Watford Observer : MPs say hospital boss should go Two MPs have called for the man in charge of Watford General Hospital to resign, after the release of a damning report into the state of affairs at the local health trust. West Hertfordshire Hospital's NHS Trust was ranked as one of the worst performing trusts in the country in a study released yesterday. The quality of service and financial management of the trust, which operates Watford, St Albans and Hemel Hempstead hospitals, were rated as "weak" - the lowest possible rating - in a report by the Healthcare Commission. This is the second year running the trust has received a "double weak" report, one of only four across the country.Despite Following the release of the report, Watford MP Claire Ward and Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning called for trust chief executive David Law to resign. Ms Ward, a Labour MP, described David Law's position as "untenable" and demanded a review of the trust's entire management. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Thursday 18th October 2007 - PROOF THAT CLOSING HEMEL HOSPITAL FACILITIES DOES NOT WORK AND HAS A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON LIFE. Hemel Today : Wife's three-hour hell to reach hospital. Match-day gridlock meant an epic three-hour journey for Berkhamsted author Jean Ritchie as she rushed to her husband's bedside in Watford Hospital. Ms Ritchie, whose journey would have taken 15 minutes if Hemel Hempstead Hospital still had the necessary facilities, was forced to contend with thousands of football fans heading to a match at Vicarage Road stadium next to Watford Hospital. The former Sun journalist, who wrote an acclaimed book on Moors murderer Myra Hindley, said: "It was just chaotic - total gridlock and there was nowhere to go. I was very upset and began welling up out of sheer frustration." Her terminally-ill husband, David Francis, also a former journalist, was being treated in hospital for a broken hip when his wife was called in by medical staff. After sitting in stationary traffic for hours, Ms Ritchie, of Torrington Road, was told by police the road leading to the hospital was closed because of the football game. She tried to find an alternative route and follow diversion signs, but like many residents in Dacorum was unfamiliar with the area. Eventually, after arguing with a police officer she was allowed to travel down Vicarage Road, which is for the use of ambulances only during games. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Herts Advertiser 24 : Personal items go missing during cancer treatment. PERSONAL items belonging to a terminally-ill cancer patient were lost in the hospital where she was being treated. Mary Watts, aged 58, of Heath Road, St Albans, who is now in the Hospice of St Fran­cis in Berkhamsted, was admitted for procedures to be carried out at Hemel Hempstead Hospital in September. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Herts Advertiser 24 : Superbug cases here worse than in ‘death’ Trust. CASES of a hospital-acquired superbug are higher in West Herts than in the Trust where it emerged last week that 90 people had died. West Herts Hospitals Trust, which runs hospitals in St Al­bans, Watford and Hemel Hemp­stead, had 230 cases of Clostridium difficile (C.diff) in the first three months of 2007, the sixth highest in the country. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Hemel Today : The trust running Hemel Hempstead Hospital has been ranked 17th worst in the country The trust running Hemel Hempstead Hospital has been ranked 17th worst in the country for infections. West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust had 3.83 cases of clostridium difficile (C.diff) per 1,000 patients aged over 65 - well above the national average of 2.93. The figures are the latest available from the Health Protection Agency. They also show that in the first three months of this year the trust had a total of 230 infections – only five trusts countrywide had more. The trust's infection rate is even higher than that at crisis-hit Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, where c.diff has been linked to 90 deaths. The situation meant that a special team from the Department of Health visited the trust in August to draw up an action plan to tackle the problem. Mr Penning, a shadow health minister, said it had been reported to him that a patient had died at Watford General Hospital in the past week because of C.diff. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Watford Observer : Bosses defensive after health criticism. HOSPITAL bosses are under intense pressure after an official report slammed the services relied on by St Albans residents. Both the West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust and the primary care trust (PCT) which runs GP surgeries have been rated "weak" in the Healthcare Commission's review of 2006/7. Secretary of State Alan Johnson has asked the Commission to perform a special inspection, and Claire Ward, Watford's normally ultra cautious MP, has already called for hospital trust boss David Law's resignation. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Wednesday 17th June 2007 - £38 to be spent on a 'revamp' that sees masses of services and established facilities close Watford Observer : Hospital to get £38m revamp. The £38million redevelopment of Watford General Hospital has been formally approved by the Department of Health. Work on the project, which includes a new acute admissions unit containing 120 beds, a new CT scanner, x-ray and ultrasound facilities, will start by the end of this month. It is due to be completed by March 2009. The new building will be adjoined to the A&E department and, according to hospital bosses, will allow patients to be diagnosed quicker by a greater number of senior doctors. As a result of the changes, A & E at the Hemel site will shut and an and "urgent care centre", with closer links to GPs, will be created. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Tuesday 16th June 2007 - Proof that if we stand together - our voices will be heard. Demand David Law and his trusts resignation and Demand a people / health focussed service NOW! Cheshire Today : Brady lays the first brick in hospital unit. ALTRINCHAM and Sale West MP Graham Brady called in at the minor injuries unit at Altrincham General Hospital last Friday. The Altrincham and Sale West MP examined work carried out so far and laid the first brick in a £100,000 scheme to upgrade the minor injuries unit. Two years ago the hospital was threatened with closure but a public campaign, backed by Mr Brady and supported by thousands of residents, meant that the hospital remained open and Trafford Healthcare Trust promised new investment to improve facilities and services. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Full news update in progress Tuesday 15th June 2007 - Gazette 'last ditch' hospital campaign Hemel Today : The Gazette is calling on the community to raise £40,000 in two weeks to allow a legal challenge to the hospital's demise to go ahead. The cash will only be needed if a judicial review in the High Court fails - if successful the money will be returned. The judicial review, which if successful could force a rethink on health services in the town, offers the last lifeline to the embattled hospital. To make a donation: Make cheque payable to Dacorum Hospital Action Group and send to: Zena Bullmore, DHAG, 42 Crouchfield, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 1PA. NB: Include your address so cheques can be returned if the challenge does not go ahead... CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Tuesday 12th June 2007 - Save OUR Hospital Services : DHAG Update. DHAG NEWS : Case update... We have just heard that the Gazette and HeraldExpress newspapers are about to launch an appeal to raise £60,000 in 2 weeks to enable our judicial review case to be heard. This is because we were unable to secure a Protective Costs Order which would have capped our costs at the amount that we had raised if we lost the case. If it hadn't been for the intervention of our local newspapers we would have had to pull out of the case so we are very grateful to them. But now we need everyone in the community to respond to the newspapers' appeal to ensure there are enough funds in the kitty to support the case. All contributions large or small will be welcomed. Everyone whatever their means needs safe and accessible hospital provision. If you are interested in the dry-as-dust detail of recent developments, please read the briefing below. As you know the Court granted us permission to go ahead with the case in March. The West Herts Hospital Trust had argued that our case was "without merit" but the Court disagreed and decided that we had an arguable case and should be allowed to present it. At the same time (in March) we expected the Court to rule on our application for a Protective Costs Order (PCO) which is a relatively new legal arrangement whereby, in a case which has a public interest/public importance element, the claimant's potential costs in the event of losing can be capped to a pre-set figure. In our case we asked for costs to be capped at £20,500, a relatively high sum. The Trust could have gone along with with our application but they opposed it. Unfortunately the judge in March decided that he didn't have enough information to rule on the PCO so asked for more information. A different judge would then consider the issue on the papers. The judge who did this, in April, disallowed the application. Our legal team then renewed the application via an oral hearing in mid-May. Again it was turned down, as was permission to appeal. The lawyers then sought permission to appeal via the Appeal Court. There was an oral hearing about this last Friday and the appeal judge turned it down purely on the basis that the previous judge had exercised his discretion appropriately. Obviously none of this has anything at all to do with the merits of our case for judicial review. The issue over the PCO appears to turn on how 'broad' a public interest has to be to qualify for a PCO. We obtained letters of support from a wide range of people and groups, including beyond Dacorum. These included the MPs for Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire South West and St. Albans, Lord Lyell of Markyate, Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, Community Action Dacorum, the British Legion, The Chair of the League of Friends of St. Albans City Hospital etc. All emphasised that this was a public interest issue and the case should be heard. We also stressed that the proper conduct of newer consultation processes such as citizens juries was an important issue of national public concern. (We have a mass of evidence that there were serious flaws in these events run last year by an external consultant on behalf of the Trust). Another aspect of the PCO issue is that this is a new procedure and there are varying views among lawyers about how many (or few) are expected to be granted each year. Our legal team were successful in the landmark case over PCOs and are convinced that the judges who have ruled on our application are taking a much narrower view than is justifiable on the basis of that case. They are shocked by these rulings and are planning to write articles about this issue for the legal journals and The Times. The hearing of the substantive case was scheduled for June 21st and 22nd, i.e. next week. The length of the process over the PCO has unexpectedly brought us very close to those dates. This is the situation that has led the local newspapers to launch the appeal rather than see the case collapse. The lawyers will now seek a postponement of the hearing for two weeks on the basis of this unexpected development. The lawyers continue to believe the case is a strong one. Please note that the above represents my understanding of the legal issues. I am not a lawyer and therefore there may be points I have misunderstood. Tuesday 15th April 2007 - SIGN THIS PETITION TO RETAIN BIRTHING FACILITIES IN HEMEL HEMPSTEAD Save Hemel Maternity : Click here to sign and save our services! CLICK TO VOTE NOW!...petitions.pm.gov.uk/hemelbirth/ Thursday 5th April 2007 - INVESTIGATION INTO WHY A SICK BABY WAS TURNED AWAY FROM HEMEL HOSPITAL... Hemel Today : Baby's A&E brush-off An enquiry has been launched at Hemel Hempstead Hospital following claims a sick baby was turned away from A&E. Parents Hayley Smith and Jamie Howard took five-month-old Corey to casualty on Saturday night because he was vomiting and breathing strangely, his eyes were rolling and he had diarrhoea. But they claim they were told to go to Watford General Hospital or face a wait of 'several hours' - even though no one had seen or assessed Corey. Children's services at Hemel Hempstead Hospital were axed in 2005 and since then two reports have criticised the treatment of children in A&E, where there are no paediatric doctors at night. But West Herts Hospitals Trust continues to insist that children can be seen in Hemel Hempstead and transferred to Watford, where there is 24-hour paediatric cover, if necessary. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Hemel Today : Hospital parking anger Furious nurses at Hemel Hempstead Hospital are fed up with having to pay through the teeth go to work. Some nurses are paying up to £60 a week to use the visitors' parking facilities because there are not spaces in the staff car park. "It's outrageous. We don't get paid a great deal anyway. We should be allowed to park in the visitors area without having to pay a ridiculous amount of money. Why should we pay more just because there is not enough space?" said one angry nurse, who wished to remain anonymous. The hospital has just 241 car parking spaces to accommodate the 1,500 members of staff. It usually costs £6 a week to park there compared to £12.50 a day in the visitors' area. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Wednesday 4th April 2007 - TRUST STAFF ARE 'DEMORALISED' - WHILE BABIES ARE BORN IN CAR PARKS... This is Hertfordshire : Trust staff 'would not want to be patients' NEARLY half of the staff at a NHS trust would not want to be patients in their own hospital, a shocking survey has revealed. Just 22 per cent of staff questioned at the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs St Albans, Hemel Hempstead and Watford hospitals, said they would be happy with the standard of care provided if they were patients. Forty-eight per cent said they would be unhappy - giving the trust one of the worst results in England and Wales. Last year the troubled trust reported a deficit of £26 million, and bosses are currently trying to centralise acute and emergency services at Watford General to "improve quality of care for local people". St Albans MP Anne Main called the survey results "depressing". She said: "The staff are pretty demoralised with the reconfigurations that are going on. The staff are doing their best with very, very limited resources. I think they're suffering a huge loss of confidence." Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Sandy Walkington added: "What does it say about our own local hospitals that half the staff have no confidence in the healthcare provided? This is a further searing indictment of what has been allowed to happen to the health service in west Hertfordshire. "Any manager of a large organisation knows that staff surveys are barometers of the health and wellbeing of an organisation. If staff are unhappy, patients are going to be unhappy too." CLICK FOR FULL STORY... Hemel Today : Services for midwives in 'utter chaos' Mike Penning MP has called an emergency meeting with junior health secretary Ivan Lewis, to discuss the maternity crisis facing pregnant women in Hemel Hempstead. He told The Gazette: "Midwifery services are in utter chaos. I've had loads of worried mums complain to me that they're either not getting the back-up they had in previous pregnancies or, if they're first-time mums, that they're just being left to get on with it. "This cannot be morally right and is very frightening especially for first-time mums." The maternity unit of Hemel Hempstead Hospital closed in 2002 and moved to Watford. Although a midwife-led birthing unit opened in the maternity wing at Hemel Hempstead in 2003, it was closed by the end of 2005. Ante-natal services still operated from the town's hospital until just before Christmas last year when they were discontinued. CLICK FOR FULL STORY... March 2007 Friday 29th March 2007 - FIGHT GATHERS PACE... Herts Advertiser 24 : Court to probe hospital move A JUDICIAL review will examine the consultation process leading to the decision to shut Hemel Hempstead Hospital's accident and emergency department which is the nearest casualty unit for many people in St Albans. Meanwhile West Herts Hospitals Trust (WHHT) has confirmed it will go ahead with some interim work to enable St Albans City Hospital to admit patients for planned surgery as soon as possible. The High Court ruled last week that there were grounds to investigate the decision by WHHT to centralise emergency health services at Watford where there are plans to build a new hospital. It would mean the downgrading of A&E at Hemel and has resulted in Donald Giddings, an elderly heart patient from Hemel Hempstead, mounting a legal challenge with support from Dacorum Hospital Action Group (DHAG). They claim the Trust Board was misled on the information provided to them by consultants which led to the decision to centralise acute hospital care at Watford and planned surgery at St Albans City Hospital. Ron Glatter of DHAG explained that at least 76 per cent of people in West Herts wanted acute services maintained at Hemel Hospital but that was brushed aside in the report. He added: "At the minimum, we hope the whole consultation process will have to be run again as it was completely flawed." The Judicial Review is expected to be heard by the end of April and DHAG is working with solicitors on further evidence. A spokesperson for WHHT said that a number of allegations had been made against the trust in general and a number of individuals. All the allegations had been answered in responses from the trust made available to the courts. In the meantime, WHHT had been given permission to proceed with interim works at St Albans City Hospital to ensure there was no delay in improving patient services once the judicial review took place. St Albans MP Anne Main, who has been at the forefront of objections to the downgrading of Hemel A&E, said: "No irreversible changes can be made so some services could potentially be moved from Watford to St Albans in the interim. But this would not mean shutting A&E at Hemel so it gives us a chance to regroup, gauge opinion and pause for reflection." She said she continued to have grave reservations about how her constituents would access the busy A&E at Watford particularly on match days - Watford football ground is next door - and pointed out that when A&E had been moved from St Albans, residents had been assured that Hemel Hempstead would be their local casualty unit. Thursday 28th - TRUST TOLD BY COURT NOT TO MAKE IRREVERSIBLE CHANGES DURING INVESTIGATIONS Hemel Today : Judge to rule on claim of 'hospital stitch-up' The battle to keep vital services at Hemel Hempstead Hospital has been boosted by the announcement that a legal challenge to the cuts will take place. The decision to move services out of the town will be the subject of a judicial review at the High Court in London, expected to take place in April. In a groundbreaking case, the way in which the results of a public consultation were interpreted will form the basis of the review. Solicitors acting for hospital supporters claim the conclusions of citizen juries were misrepresented and the views of large numbers of people ignored, meaning the decision to axe services should be quashed. The case, thought to be among the first of its kind, is likely to have implications for NHS consultations up and down the country. A judge at the High Court, in granting leave for the judicial review, said the trust could only proceed with service changes which could be reversed pending the final outcome. MP Mike Penning said: "I fully support Mr Giddings in his challenge to the outrageous slashing of healthcare in Dacorum. "The so-called public consultation was a complete sham and it should be clear to anyone with an ounce of common sense that a town the size of Hemel needs an A&E department. "Mr Giddings is right to be concerned that without an A&E his health is at risk. He is by no means alone as there are many people like him throughout Dacorum." Mr Giddings is being represented by the solicitors Leigh, Day and Co, who have set out his case in letters to the trust and its lawyers. Much of the case centres on work done to interpret the consultation results and the organisation of a citizens' jury. The consultation included questionnaires sent out to members of the public, the views of a citizens' panel, and two juries. A letter dated January 17 claims members of a citizens' jury were presented with a 'superficial and biased analysis of the issues'. Hemel Today : Birth Centre petition gathers pace ALMOST 300 people have now signed a petition to the Prime Minister calling for the re-opening of Hemel Hempstead Hospital's Birthing Centre. The award winning centre was closed by the health trust last year in a cost cutting move but an e-petition to Tony Blair was set up by a local woman last month. In Her petition Tanya Reynolds says: "We ask this as this unit has recently been closed down. Thus meaning that all those who are expecting their babies, consequently face a 4hr journy to Watford General Hospital. "It has become common knowledge that this hospital does not have the staff, the equipment or the pacience to deal with such a High volume of births. Women in labour are being turned away due to overcrowding. Cesareans are being performed to hurry things up and an average of 12 babies a week are born in Watford Generals Car Park! "This is unacceptable. No warning was given about the closure of this unit. During the christams period (2006) the ward closed due to staff sickness and was never re-opened. The 3 year old dept is now being used as office space." Friday 23rd - HIGH COURT APPROVES JUDICIAL REVIEW IN A PROCESS THAT COULD STOP HOSPITAL BOSSES IN THEIR TRACKS! Watford Observer : Health service plans in doubt PLANS to centralise emergency health services in Watford have been thrown into uncertainty this week after a High Court ruling to review the closure of Hemel Hempstead's A&E. A judicial review of the decision to close the department at Hemel Hempstead Hospital was granted yesterday. It comes after claims that the consultation process leading to the decision was flawed. Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning said: "The so-called public consultation was a complete sham and it should be clear to anyone with an ounce of common sense that a town the size of Hemel needs an A&E department." Acute services including A&E, intensive care, complex surgery and women's and children's services for West Hertfordshire are to be centralised in Watford as part of cost saving measures. West Hertfordshire MP David Gauke welcomed the review, saying: "I have got a lot of concerns about the impact of the reconfiguration and whether Watford General can cope with the increased use which will follow. "I also have my concerns about how the consultation process was done and I think that the local hospital trust has got a case to answer. "We have a real crisis on our hands and what is proposed is not necessarily going to provide a solution." At the time of going to press a representative from West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust was not available for comment. Thursday 22nd - LEGAL CHALLENGE TO GO AHEAD AND TRUST IS TO BE RE-INVESTIGATED... Hemel Today : Hospital legal challenge to go ahead THE long campaign to keep vital services at Hemel Hempstead Hospital has been boosted with the announcement that a legal challenge will take place. The decision by West Herts Hospitals Trust to move full A&E services and planned surgery out of the town will be the subject of a judicial review at the High Court in London. The trust plans to move these services to Watford and St Albans to help plug debts totalling millions of pounds. St. Albans Observer : Health service plans in doubt PLANS to centralise emergency health services in Watford have been thrown into uncertainty this week after a High Court ruling to review the closure of Hemel Hempstead's A&E. Hemel Today : Health test set for Trust Health and safety inspectors will be returning to West Herts Hospitals Trust to carry out a check-up following a prosecution that took place last year. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is checking on progress since the trust was fined £17,000 for breaching regulations. Since that time maintenance problems have plagued the trust, with incidents including the case of an operating table collapsing with an anaesthetised patient on it. "No doubt they will pick up things, and we would expect them to, where we can do better,". Wednesday 21st - HEMEL BIRTH CENTRE - Reopening considered while the dire state of Childrens A&E is criticized by officials... Hemel Today : Hospital's A&E care for children 'insufficient' Emergency care for children at Hemel Hempstead Hospital has been criticised by health watchdogs. The hospital is accused of providing 'insufficient cover during the day to ensure effective life support in serious emergencies'. Children's care at Hemel Hempstead Hospital has been the subject of a number of cutbacks and has received heavy criticism. The overnight ward has closed and a promised A&E department dedicated to children was never built. A 15-month-old baby from Hemel Hempstead died from meningitis last year following delays in treatment after going to A&E and then being transferred to Watford. Hemel Today : Rethink over closure of Hemel Birth Centre Hospital chiefs are looking at ways of reopening the Hemel Birth Centre following its closure at the end of 2005. The award-winning unit was shut down because West Herts Hospitals Trust said it did not have the money or the staff to keep it open. But now the trust has opened the door to its return by announcing a rethink on the closure. The unit was shut despite widespread protests and a petition signed by thousands of concerned residents across Dacorum. A public consultation on the closure took place last year and despite strong support for the unit the hospitals trust decided to keep it closed. But now there appears to have been an extraordinary about-turn. Chief executive David Law told a trust board meeting last week: "We need to come to a conclusion about the Hemel Birth Centre. "We had an emergency closure on safety grounds. We will be consulting on continuing the closure or opening that service again. "It would need to be financially viable, but we are looking at a different model that could make it financially viable." The unit, for low-risk births, opened in 2003 to soften the blow of the loss of maternity services and the special care baby unit. It became increasingly popular but the trust, struggling with debts of millions of pounds, closed it three years later. Hemel Today : Hospital bosses caught in midwife staffing crisis A shortage of midwives has come to light at Watford Hospital, where all expectant Dacorum mums are now sent for delivery since the closure of the maternity wing in Hemel Hempstead. West Herts Hospitals Trust has been advertising midwife vacancies and has so far managed to fill the equivalent of three full-time posts with part-time staff. But the hospital needs at least twice that number to boast full staffing of one full-time midwife for every 33 births. The vacancies follow the closure of birthing units at nearby St Albans and Hemel Hempstead hospitals. Hemel Today : Trust fails to meet targets in battle to eradicate killer bug The trust was singled out in a report this week for exceeding its monthly target. The East of England Strategic Health Authority named the trust, in a report to its board, as one of 11 trusts to miss its target despite an overall drop by 118 cases in hospitals throughout the region. Sunday 11th - People save while Trusts cut cut cut! - Bosses or Butchers? DACORUM HOSPITAL ACTION GROUP NEWS : Thankyou! Thank you all, but especially the fund-raising subcommittee of DHAG, for the tremendous effort you have made, and continue to make, in raising funds from the community towards the legal costs. The response from the public has been really heartening and shows how well aware people are of the need to retain acute and planned services at Hemel Hempstead hospital. We have the support of GPs and hospital staff too. Zena Bullmore, MBE. DHAG. The Herts Advertiser : Free minibus to be scrapped A FREE minibus service running between Watford General and Mount Vernon hospitals is to be scrapped. The move is the latest cost cutting measure by cash-strapped West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust. Saturday 10th - Fighting for survival... DACORUM HOSPITAL ACTION GROUP NEWS : Legal action... current state of play. All the preliminary papers and witness statements from both sides have now been lodged into Court and we expect to hear quite soon, probably in about a week, whether the judge will grant us permission to proceed with the case. If permission is granted, the case should be decided by the end of April. Our application is for a judicial review of the Hospital Trust Board's decisions last November (to centralise acute services at Watford and - on an interim basis - planned surgery at St Albans) because of the many defects in the consultation process on which those decisions were based and the misleading way its results were reported to the Board. The overwhelming support for Hemel hospital was not properly considered by the Board but was dismissed out of hand. Also the decisions did not take account of the announcement that was made shortly before the Trust Board meeting that the planned new hospital at Hatfield will not be built. Ron Glatter. DHAG. Thursday 8th - Getting funds... The Herts Advertiser : Concern raised over emergency care for children EMERGENCY children's care is not up to scratch at Hemel Hospital Hospital, a healthcare watchdog has warned. A report by the Healthcare Commission found that the hospital, which covers St Albans, was one of eight in the country failing to provide adequate advanced paediatric life-support skills and cover for children in serious emergencies. Hemel Online : Action group out to collect Campaigners will be out on Saturday raising cash for the fight against the downgrade of Hemel Hempstead Hospital. Dacorum Hospital Action Group (DHAG) wants to raise around £8,000 to support the legal challenge to a service shake-up that will leave the town stripped of key services. Thursday 1st - Mass shortage of beds predicted if bosses get there way... Herts 24 : Hospital bed shortag fears THE MERGER of local hospital services would create a shortage of 100 beds for patients, according to campaigners All acute services in West Herts are to be centralised at Watford Hospital which itself is due to be replaced by a new hospital on the same site. In the meantime, a prefab block with 120 beds will be built at Watford to replace acute beds being closed at Hemel Hospital. Dacorum Hospital Action Group (DHAG) have warned that this will still leave a bed deficit of more than 100 because the block will replace around 250 beds in Hemel. Zena Bullmore, chair of DHAG, said: "They have not even had the decency to wait, as promised, until the new Watford Hospital is built before decanting Hemel Hempstead acute services to an already over-crowded Watford Hospital, where buildings and equipment needs replacement." February 2007 Wednesday 28th - Hospital bosses snub Council meetings. SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION NOW! Downing Street E-Petitions : A national petition has been set up to help keep ALL local hospitals open. Please click here now to sign the petition. Thanks for all your support. Hemel Today : Council waits to hear from Trust on lost meeting TRING Town Council has had no reply from hospital bosses about their last-minute decision not to attend a council meeting. West Herts NHS Hospitals Trust cancelled a public meeting on the day it was due to be held. At the time of cancelling the meeting the Trust said that a legal challenge regarding the decision to downgrade Hemel Hempstead Hospital would make it inappropriate for a speaker to attend. Hemel Today : Legal action challenge to Trust decision Campaigners expect to hear within a month whether permission will be granted for a judicial review of the decision to downgrade Hemel Hempstead Hospital. Papers have been served at the High Court and a decision from the judge is expected in the second or third week of March. The action is being taken by pensioner Donald Giddings backed by Dacorum Hospital Action Group and Dacorum Borough Council. Lawyers acting for Mr Giddings say an injunction against the trust would be an option if it tries to move services from Hemel Hempstead before the review. Rosa Curling, of solicitors Leigh Day & Co, said: "From our point of view they should take no steps at all to implement decisions they made on November 16 that are the subject of judicial review." Thursday 22nd - Thankyou for saving my life" St. Albans Observer : Legal challenge launched A LEGAL challenge to the proposed major shift of hospital services from Hemel Hempstead to Watford has been launched. St Albans MP Anne Main said she supported the challenge and hoped it would be successful as Watford would be much more difficult to get to for most people in St Albans. She said: "I am glad someone is challenging the trust. "It will cost them money they can ill afford, but if it stops this slash-and-burn approach to hospital services then it will be worthwhile. "People in St Albans are desperately unhappy about what has been done - they will have to trek through heavy Watford traffic." Tuesday 20th - St. Albans joins the fight! St. Albans Observer : Health boss defends hospital decisions THE region's health chief this week brushed off criticism about the closure of Harpenden Memorial Hospital. Despite a wave of local protest and heavy campaigning, the hospital, known as the Red House, officially shut its doors last month. Monday 19th - Closures everywhere- Fight before it's too late! St. Albans Observer : Health boss defends hospital decisions THE region's health chief this week brushed off criticism about the closure of Harpenden Memorial Hospital. Despite a wave of local protest and heavy campaigning, the hospital, known as the Red House, officially shut its doors last month. Thursday 15th - Patients refused transport between Hospital locations even before they attempt to close sites down! Herts Advertiser : No place on minibus for hospital visit A HOSPITAL visitor who used an inter-site minibus to get from St Albans to Hemel Hempstead was initially refused a space on it to get back. The angry St Albans resident, who did not wish to be named, caught the minibus at St Albans City Hospital to go to Hemel Hospital to visit a patient. Wednesday 14th - They think that by taking it away peice by peice we won't notice... WE DO AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO FIGHT... Hemel Today : Mental health unit will now be in Watford Hopes for a specialist mental health unit in Hemel Hempstead have been dashed with the emergence of plans for such facilities in the Watford Health Campus. The controversial decision to axe mental health services in St Albans, which served people from Dacorum, was tempered with the promise of a new unit on the site of Hemel Hempstead Hospital. "Although this unit will close before the new one opens, the plan is still to provide a new in-patient facility in Hemel Hempstead." Savehemel News: : Video released on internet shows impact of Hemel to Watford commute dilemma. Link will be provided soon to external source. The video shot in one take shows the 1 hour journey to Watford birthing unit. This news comes as we discover people who have had massive problems in their commute which have resulted in serious complications at roadside. More to come. Hemel Today : Hospital plans are scaled down and face more delay The scale of the project has also shrunk with the price tag of the hospital falling from £320million to 'between £200 and £300million' and it will have fewer beds than anticipated. The campus is the last remaining element of plans that originally foresaw a 'surgicentre' for planned operations in Hemel Hempstead and a new hospital in Hatfield. But the new hospital has been cancelled and the surgicentre shelved, leaving the investment hopes of the NHS in West Herts pinned to the campus project. The campus is a partnership involving West Herts Hospitals Trust, Watford Borough Council and Watford FC. Kyle McClelland, project manager for the health campus, said: "It has slipped. That's because of internal issues with one of the stakeholders and the local elections." Despite the prospect of a judicial review of the decision to centralise emergency care in Watford and planned operations in St Albans, work on the campus is proceeding. Mr McClelland said: "We are concerned about access for people from Hemel. It will be a nine-minute train journey from Hemel." CLICK FOR MORE. Tuesday 13th - Press coverage builds on fund campaign... Hemel Today : Fighting fund to back legal action over cuts Health campaigners have set up a fighting fund to back pensioner Donald Giddings' legal challenge to Hemel Hempstead Hospital's downgrading. CLICK FOR MORE. Monday 12th - Donations urgently needed... DACORUM HOSPITAL ACTION GROUP NEWS : An easy way to help... We understand that people have busy lifestyles and cannot attend fundraisers, but that isn't the only way you can help! We can accept bank transfers to:      Dacorum Hospital Action Group,      Lloyds Bank, Sort Code 30-94-08 A/C 00617148 or you can post cheques made out to Dacorum Hospital Action group to DHAG, 42 Crouchfield, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 1PA. We can provide a receipt if required. Don't forget to tell us whether you would like us to list you as a contributor. Friday 9th - FUNDRAISING EVENT... DACORUM HOSPITAL ACTION GROUP NEWS : Quiz night... As most of you will know, the Hospital Action Group, along with others, have been desperately fighting closures and a possible shut down of our Hospital at Hemel Hempstead. The Action Group are now in the process of Legally fighting these closures etc, and are in need of funds to save your hospital. Grand Quiz on Sunday 4th March 2007. - Starts at 7pm, Highfield Hall. - Click HERE for map Come along- tables are of 6 people and cost is £5 per person including tea / biscuits and nibbles at half time. There will also be a bar with profits being donated to the fund. There will also be a BIG BUMPER RAFFLE (Donations from business and individuals accepted) Organisers: Hazel Blanshard and Geoff Lawrence. Please click here for a Quiz Form to enter and mail it to 1 Appollo Way, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 5QG or call 01442 257 465. Thursday 8th - Requests for donations... DACORUM HOSPITAL ACTION GROUP NEWS : Legal Challenge - Urgent!! The Dacorum Hospital Action Group and local pensioner and heart patient Donald Giddings have applied for a Judicial Review of the flawed consultation process recently conducted by West Herts Hospital Trust who ignored the large majority responses from the Dacorum population. Our community needs to raise funds towards this legal challenge. We are therefore writing to ask you, please, to contribute to this community effort by a direct donation or by a fund-raising scheme of your choice. Whatever you can send will be much appreciated. This is URGENT. We very much hope you will find it possible to support our efforts to safeguard Hemel Hospital services for those who live or work in Dacorum. With many thanks in advance, and with best wishes. Yours sincerely, Zena Bullmore, MBE, Chairman, DHAG. Tuesday 6th - Hospital fight gets legal... DACORUM HOSPITAL ACTION GROUP NEWS : Review proceedings begin... The application for judicial review against the West Herts Hospitals Trust's decisions of 16 November 2006 was lodged at Court yesterday (6 February). It was made on behalf of the Dacorum Hospital Action Group and heart patient Mr. Donald Giddings. Dacorum Borough Council are in full support. This marks the start of formal proceedings after several weeks of preparatory work and legal communications between lawyers on the two sides. At the same time our lawyers are trying to ensure that the Trust takes no irreversible decisions to implement any of the decisions which are the subject of the review application, and an injunction may become necessary. We'll try to keep everyone informed as things move along. Monday 5th - "It's becoming impossible to do our jobs"... Contributed Story : A concerned employee of an un-named Health service provider recently told us that the facility is being run in to the ground. They refused to allow us to identify either them or the organization they worked for, however they stated 'Working conditions are beyond belief here and we're not allowed to speak out about them. Redundancy is spreading round the facility like the plague and our only defense from the chopping board is to bow down try and do what we're told.' They went on to describe the conditions. She said 'While there is a building standing they seem not to rest. We aren't allowed to order needed supplies or even replace flashing light tubes in care areas'. This was also the message delivered to us from another employee at another site operated by the un-disclosed organization. Editor: We must state categorically that we do know what organisation our sources work for, or where they are located geographically, but we can say that this is a serious matter indeed. Friday 2nd - Your stories count... Click here : To get your story heard by decision makers... NOW! January 2007 Wednesday 31st - Whos fault is it? Hemel Today : Don't blame it on the council Thursday 25th - Revolutionary plan by cost cut bosses... £2.50 a day. Genius. This London : Trust tells its nurses to save £2.50 a day Doctors and nurses have been told they each must save £2.50 a day by measures such as prescribing cheaper medicines, reducing the number of sterile packs used, cutting hospital tests and asking patients to bring drugs in from home. The astonishing edict was sent by e-mail to around 3,600 staff working in the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust by chief executive David Law on Wednesday. The leaked e-mail, entitled Saving £2.50, contains 13 suggestions to cut costs. Other measures include switching off lights and asking patients to pay for a taxi home instead of using ambulances. The sum of £2.50 would barely pay for a packet of over-the-counter painkillers or a box of plasters. Want to make a comment about this and other cut backs to our safety service? CLICK HERE AND HAVE YOUR SAY. Tuesday 23rd - Council backs legal challenge against Hospital service closures... Hemel Today : Council chiefs get behind OAP hospital legal challenge Council chiefs have thrown their weight behind the legal bid by pensioner Donald Giddings to halt the downgrading of Hemel Hempstead Hospital. In an unprecedented move, Dacorum Borough Council has become a 'participant' in the claim by Mr Giddings for a judicial review. The legal action focuses on the decision by West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust to centralise emergency care in Watford and planned operations in St Albans, leaving Hemel Hempstead with a minor injuries unit, outpatients and diagnostic services. Mr Giddings has been given legal aid to go to the first stage of requesting permission from a judge to pursue a judicial review. A council spokesman said: "We have become a participant and support the claim. "Mr Giddings has got legal aid to request a judicial review and because we are a local authority representing local people, we want to intervene and support this claim." This represents the first time the council has involved itself in a legal action concerning the plight of the hospital, which has been under threat for years. In a letter to the hospital trust lawyers acting for Mr Giddings say the decisions to strip services from Hemel Hempstead were 'flawed and unlawful'. This is because the trust board did not properly take into account the results of a public consultation which showed 82 per cent backed Hemel Hempstead as the place for planned operations, the letter says. The letter states the board 'failed' to 'take into account the consultation responses' and as a result the decisions are 'likely to be quashed by the court'. Mr Giddings, 78, is a former serviceman from Martian Avenue in Highfield who developed heart and lung problems after retiring in 1993. Daniel Zammit, chief executive at the council, said infrastructure including health services was needed to support the regeneration of the town. "For any major regeneration to be truly sustainable, we must also have dedicated infrastructure. In practice this means that the people of Dacorum must, amongst other essentials, have easy access to comprehensive medical facilities," he said. "That is why the council continues to oppose the closure of any of the facilities at Hemel Hospital." Thursday 18th - Hospital wards reject op victim as Watford fills to the brink... The Herts Advertiser : Operation delayed due to lack of beds Mr O'Shaughnessy said: "Emergency cases were being transferred to Watford but we were told my wife could not be moved there because the ward was full." Last Friday Mr O'Shaughnessy contacted both St Albans MP Anne Main and the Herts Advertiser and his wife was then transferred to Watford Hospital where she was eventually operated on overnight. Wednesday 17th - Hewitt tells local Hospital bosses to reorganise MORE... The Welwyn and Hatfield Times : Hewitt’s NHS claim ‘ludicrous’ says MP HEALTH Secretary Patricia Hewitt has accused the NHS in Hertfordshire of wasting record amounts of cash. She warned health bosses in the county to reorganise services to make spending more efficient. Hemel Today : Meeting about hospital plans A special meeting to discuss the future of Hemel Hempstead Hospital will be held by Tring Town Council next week. A speaker from the West Herts NHS Hospitals Trust will talk on issues surrounding plans for downgrading the hospital. Hemel Today : Hospital car park fear in dark hours A woman who visits her mother at Hemel Hempstead Hospital has given up using the car park because it's 'dark and unsafe'. Janet Donaghay, of Barbers Walk in Tring, used the car park near Verulam Wing for two weeks until the lighting packed up, plunging the area into darkness. Friday 12th - Close our Hospital.. Where has new NHS money gone? Herts & Essex News Online : MP fumes at Blair's 'slap-in-the-face' to Herts THE Prime Minister gave the people of East Herts a "slap in the face" over the ticking time bombs of health service cuts and rising house-building targets. "Everyone recognises the Government has spent more money - the question is where has it gone?" "To build 22,000 new homes without the promise of infrastructure investment is nonsense," said Mr Prisk. "Now Mr Blair is saying that the Green Belt should be reviewed from Sawbridgeworth to Hemel Hempstead, raising the question of whether we are effectively going to become part of north London." Wednesday 10th - Close our Hospital and build more homes.. utter madness.. Hemel Today : 'We must fight to stop homes being built on our fields' Under the government's East of England plan, Dacorum, would have to find room for 12,000 additional homes by 2021. Questions were also raised about the logic of building homes and creating work when an infrastructure is not in place and there are questions about the future of Hemel Hempstead Hospital and the Buncefield site. Tuesday 9th - No birthing unit in Hemel, other worrying cuts being overturned Hemel Today : Hospital bosses push to raise maternity care standards Monday 8th - Superbug cases lower at Hospital Watford Observer : We'll win fight against superbug December 2006 Thursday 21st - Job fears over latest decision Hemel Today : The Labour Party in Hemel Hempstead has written to hospital chiefs seeking assurances that service cuts will not lead to job losses. Party spokesman Ayfer Orhan and council group leader Maureen Flint also express concern that public consultation results had been 'dismissed' in the decision to centralise A&E in Watford and planned operations in St Albans. Wednesday 20th - Legal challenge to hospital cuts and Spiraling debts Hemel Today : A PENSIONER from Highfield is taking on the might of the NHS by mounting a legal challenge to the decision to downgrade Hemel Hempstead Hospital. Donald Giddings, from Martian Avenue, is so furious about the plight of health services in the town that he has taken on a legal team to fight the plans through the courts. The 78 year-old, who suffers with heart and lung problems and needs constant oxygen, is adamant lives will be lost if full A&E services do not remain in the town. Hemel Today : Trust chief fears 'spiral of decline' without funding. David Law, chief executive of West Herts Hospitals Trust, warned they would be in a 'spiral of decline' if funding for the move, totalling £36million, was not forthcoming from the Department of Health. Hemel Today : Health changes will cost 79 beds. Currently there are 669 beds across Hemel Hempstead, Watford and St Albans hospitals. But if proposals by West Herts Hospitals Trust go ahead - to centralise A&E in Watford and planned operations in St Albans - the total will drop to 590. Monday 18th - Begging for some common sense Hemel Today : MP makes hospital plea to Commons. Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning made a passionate plea in the House of Commons over the closure of the town's hospital last week. Mr Penning told fellow MPs that the short-term effect of the Government's bid to tackle NHS debts will have a crippling long-term effect on health provision in Hemel Hempstead. He said: "The acute accident and emergency department, which has received substantial investment over the past 15 years…will be closed and moved to Watford. "Along with it will go the brand new stroke and cardiac units, the MRI scanner and all acute facilities. Their closure marks the end of acute facilities in my general hospital." He added: "In 18 months' time, not one in-patient bed will be left in a general hospital that caters for the largest town in Hertfordshire. "That is not reconfiguration, but closure – closure that will affect the day-to-day lives and prospects of my constituents." Friday 15th - Firm of solicitors that won the Pam Smith Derbyshire GP Surgery case in the Court of Appeal takes on David Law and the West Herts Hospital Trust. The West Herfordshire Hospital Trust Chief Executive, David Law, has this morning received a 'letter before claim' from a London firm of solicitors. This will inform him that in their opinion several of the decisions taken by the Trust Board on 16th November 2006 relating to future health service provision in West Hertfordshire were flawed and unlawful and likely to be quashed by the court. It sets out the legal grounds for this view. It notes that, according to the Agenda for the Trust Board meeting on the afternoon of 14th December (tomorrow), further proposals are under consideration to proceed to implement these decisions. It asks Mr. Law to confirm by return that no irreversible steps will be taken to implement the challenged decisions. Finally it states that unless the solicitors are advised by close of business on Tuesday 2nd January 2007 that the decisions of 16th November will be reversed and fresh consultations will be undertaken, they will commence judicial review proceedings of those unlawful decisions without delay and without further notice. Please note that Dacorum Hospital Action Group and savehemel.com, while naturally supportive, are NOT involved in the above action. Thursday 14th - Strategic Health Authority DEMAND a new look Herts 24 : AN IN-DEPTH look at hospital services across the East of England has been ordered by the new Strategic Health Authority (SHA). Herts 24 : West Herts Hospitals Trust (WHHT), which operates St Albans City, Hemel Hempstead and Watford Hospitals, was described in a national newspaper this week as being in an irrecoverable position. Earlier this year it had a deficit of more than £40 million and is one of a group of trusts which are believed to have passed the point of no return. In a bid to overcome its deficit, WHHT is proposing to centralise emergency care at Watford and routine operations at St Albans City Hospital. It also has a complete embargo on the use of temporary staff and has announced a number of lay offs. The Guardian, which obtained information about the financial position of hospital trusts using the Freedom of Information Act, maintains that WHHT and the others in the same position found their financial difficulties impossible to manage because of a mistake made by the Department of Health and the Treasury in 2001. Wednesday 13th - The GP backlash against Hospital Service Closure Hemel Today : Dacorum's GPs are in revolt. All practices in the area have joined together to voice their 'deep concern' about the risks to patients from the cuts to local health services. In an open letter the doctors say the cuts 'carry risks' because they do not have the resources to take up the slack from fewer hospital beds. The unprecedented attack comes as West Herts Hospitals Trust is shown to be among 13 'bankrupt' trusts that it is claimed will never drag themselves out of debt. Monday 11th - Buncefield Disaster - Proof we need local A&E Hospital services. The Independent : Buncefield: One year on, fire victims fume at insurance payouts. Hemel Today : WEST Herts Hospitals Trust is technically bankrupt, a national newspaper claimed today. The trusts have a legal obligation to balance the books over three years, stretching in exceptional circumstances to five. An investigation by The Guardian said the trust was among at least a dozen with no chance of balancing its books. Friday 8th - Your money for your lives... Herts & Essex Online : Hatfield Super-hospital veto 'was down to money' Review & Observer : Hewitt asked to justify decision HEALTH SECRETARY Patricia Hewitt is facing demands to come to St Albans and justify the decision to scrap plans for a new hospital in Hatfield. Government's critics are concerned about the closure of Hemel Hempstead Hospital's casualty department, doubts over the future of the QEII Hospital in Welwyn Garden City and last week's controversial shutting of 20 beds at Harpenden Memorial Hospital. Monday 4th - NHS cash is being spent on dance classes while wards lay empty. THE SUN : Under a new Government fitness drive, TAXPAYERS will fork out for Britons to go on a range of free exercise regimes. But opponents have slammed the move. Tory MP Mike Penning, whose local hospital in Hemel Hemstead, Herts, is closing, said: “There is a financial crisis in the NHS. Jobs are being lost and wards lie empty, while money is wasted on this gimmick. It is a disgrace.” November 2006 Thursday 30th - ANGER MOUNTING OVER LABOUR SPIN DOCTOR! Herts24 : A ROW has blown up over an independent report into hospital trust proposals which will centralise acute care in Watford rather than Hemel Hempstead. The report was commissioned from a former Labour spin-doctor and backed proposals put forward by the West Herts Hospitals Trust to pick Watford General over Hemel Hempstead Hospital. Wednesday 29th - David Law responsible for sacking loyal staff. Hemel Today : A pensioner with a part-time job at Hemel Hempstead Hospital is the latest victim of cost-cutting. ..hospital bosses have decided to axe her £49-a-week job in the chest clinic, to help reduce accumulated debts of £43 million. "The manager of the department just came in and said: 'I have got some bad news for you – you are no longer required'," she said. Hemel Today : More Health, Less Funds - Ms. Hewitts labour Hospitals get £1,300 per head, Conservative Hemel Hempstead gets £960 per head, nearly £400 less. Monday 27th - Professor who 'analysed' consultation is former Labour Spin Doctor... This London : Under fire: Public are calling for an inquiry into 'Professor' John Underwood's actions. According to recent research, seven out of ten new hospitals have opened in Labour areas. Mr Underwood was unavailable for comment. Reference: Clear Communications own website - Services specifically set up to help organisations handle crisis - "CLEAR can help prepare for the worst, handle the flak and respond positively to ensure the fastest possible recovery." "We are used to dealing with hostile journalists to protect reputations in the face of negative stories. " St. Albans Observer : Traffic study over A&E decision to investigate whether the lives of St Albans residents will be put at risk by plans to send all patients who need critical care to Watford. Sunday 26th - Now we know how where the money has gone... The Mail on Sunday : Professor who backed Tory hospital closure is former Labour spin doctor. A former Labour spin doctor earned an estimated £100,000 for writing an independent report that endorsed the closure of a popular hospital (Hemel Hempstead Hospital) in a Conservative area. Times Online : Critics say the government has blown £70 billion hiring management consultants to do the work of ministers and civil servants — badly. By Bryan Appleyard Thursday 23rd - Realisation of a Conspiracy? EADT24 : Blair should visit our crisis hit NHS - Hemel gets less money per head. Herts 24 : The cash-strapped trust - which has a deficit of more than £40 million - maintains that the only way it can tackle its overspending is by rationalising services. Mr Law admitted that there had been more support for locating planned surgery at Hemel Hempstead than in St Albans following a large campaign in the town which fears it could lose nearly all its hospital services. Wednesday 22nd - Campaigners set to fight on