A Health Minister has confirmed that because of its poor state, the acute hospital serving the St Albans district needs additional capital expenditure.
Ben Gummer was responding to an urgent call from Anne Main, MP for St Albans, for more investment to be made in Watford General Hospital, which was rated inadequate after a recent inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
In questions in the House of Commons, she asked Mr Gummer about what could be done about the hospital’s backlog of ongoing maintenance.
He agreed that more needed to be done and commented: “I went to Watford a few weeks ago, and the buildings are in a poor state of repair. They do not enable clinicians to provide the high standards of care that they all aspire to; in many cases, it is difficult to do so.
“West Herts Trust requires additional capital expenditure. I have talked with the trust about how it might realise that, and I am discussing that in the department at the moment.”
Mrs Main responded by saying she had written to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt after a series of closures to the adult minor injuries unit at the hospital.
She continued: “While I have welcomed recent additional resources in St Albans, many of my constituents still use Watford General and often complain to me about the state of the buildings.
“I will of course continue to make the case for more services in St Albans. In the meantime, if Watford needs additional resources to help with maintenance, and increase capacity in its A&E, then we must make that case.”
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