Our response to New Hospitals Programme Announcement

Confirmation that the redevelopment of Watford General Hospital is going ahead as part of the New Hospital Programme is positive news for patients, staff, and for the redevelopment of the nearby Mount Vernon Cancer Centre.

This certainty means we can begin our public consultation this year on proposals to relocate Mount Vernon Cancer Centre onto the Watford General Hospital site in the future.

We are working closely with the teams at Watford General and University College London Hospital (UCLH) to progress the redevelopment plans. Alongside that, we are also working in a number of areas to improve services in the short term, measures that will support better care for our cancer patients before the redevelopment happens. The first of these improvements is an integrated acute oncology service at Watford, providing rapid care for patients with acute cancer related problems or treatment related emergencies, which will be operational this year.

The funding for the proposed relocation of Mount Vernon Cancer Centre was never part of the New Hospitals Programme and was not expected to be included in this review. NHSE are continuing to explore viable funding options for the redevelopment with our partners at pace and our decision to progress to a public consultation is a strong indication of the commitment to providing safe, high quality and accessible specialised cancer care for the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre population.

Note: Currently patients who cannot be admitted to Mount Vernon Cancer Centre or need to be transferred to an acute hospital due to the lack of acute services on the current site, are usually treated at Watford General Hospital as the nearest acute hospital. The integrated acute oncology service will work with patients experiencing acute cancer related problems or treatment related emergencies whether they are newly diagnosed, have a known cancer diagnosis or are already receiving treatment.