The Proposal: What We’re Planning

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We are now consulting on our proposal to build a new modern cancer centre on the Watford General Hospital site, with outreach services into local hospitals, to replace the current Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Northwood.

These proposals have been based on clinical need, quality of care, patient safety, and travel time and access analysis, and developed in collaboration with patients and staff. They will enable people living across Hertfordshire, and parts of Bedfordshire, north west and north central London, East Berkshire and Buckinghamshire to have the latest cancer treatments with onsite supporting services.

The relocation of Mount Vernon Cancer Centre has been identified as a national priority and would happen as soon as the money to build the new centre has been allocated but would still take several years to complete.

We want to make a permanent change to the location of the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre – moving specialised cancer services to a purpose-built new centre on an acute (main) hospital site (Watford General Hospital).

  1. Without an additional separate networked radiotherapy facility,

  2. With an additional radiotherapy facility at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage, or

  3. With an additional radiotherapy facility at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital in Luton



The Main Centre

The new cancer centre at Watford would provide the full range of specialist cancer treatments and research expected of a non-surgical specialist cancer centre.

Staff and patients would have direct access to services like critical care and medical support that is not available now.

Haematology

It would have a haematology unit providing specialist inpatient and outpatient haematology care.

Brachytherapy

It would have a brachytherapy theatre. Currently patients are transported to a local private hospital to access brachytherapy theatre facilities, and then back to MVCC.

Diagnostics

The services provided by Paul Strickland Scanner Centre would also move into the new centre.




Care Closer to Home


To support this, we also want to introduce options for care closer to home by increasing specialised cancer services in some other hospitals: For example:

Radiotherapy:
We want to shorten the longest journeys for radiotherapy treatment.

Anti-cancer treatments (including chemotherapy and immunotherapy):
We want to reduce the number of patients who have to have chemotherapy at the main centre.

Chemotherapy at home:
We want to increase the number of patients who can be trained to have chemotherapy at home.

Haematology:
We want to ensure that no patient has to travel past their nearest specialist cancer centre to receive treatment for haematology, unless it is absolutely necessary as part of a clinical trial or complex treatment.

Blood tests and minor procedures:
We want to ensure that no patient has to travel to the main cancer centre just to have a blood test.

Patient transport:
We want to work with our partners in local authorities and the voluntary sector to ensure that no patient misses out on treatment because it is too difficult to get to.




Impact on Journey Times

We want to understand what these changes would mean for you and how we can help ensure you can access specialist cancer treatment if you needed it in future, whether you travel to treatment by car, public transport or patient transport.

Watford General Hospital is the closest hospital site to the current service and is therefore the smallest change of any hospital we considered. The other hospitals that refer patients to MVCC all made a much bigger increase in travel times for a greater number of people.


Under our proposals, including the changes to care closer to home in the right-hand column below, journey times for 90% of patients would be reduced compared to their current care.

Area
% of total patients

The proposal meansWhat are we proposing to reduce the journeys to the cancer centre
East and North Hertfordshire14%Average journey times reduce from 48 to 43 minutesThese would still be some of the longest travelling times so to reduce the number of visits required, we are proposing:1. An additional radiotherapy unit in either Stevenage or Luton
2. Blood tests for specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
3. Access to chemotherapy at home services
South and West Hertfordshire28%Average journey times reduce from 25 to 21 minutes-
Hillingdon14%Average journey times increase from 16 to 27 minutesThese would still be some of the shortest travelling times but to reduce numbers of patients impacted :1. We are proposing a chemotherapy unit a Hillingdon Hospital
2. Blood tests for specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
3. Access to chemotherapy at home service
4. Patients in South Hillingdon would have their radiotherapy at Hammersmith Hospital
5. A very small number of patients in South Hillingdon would attend Imperial College Hospital for complex chemotherapy and chemorad
Harrow8%Average journey times increase from 20 to 23 minutesThis increase is minimal, and these are still some of the shortest travelling times. However to reduce the impact we are proposing:1. Expanded chemotherapy services at Northwick Park
2. Blood tests for specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
3. Access to chemotherapy at home services
Brent5%Average journey times reduce from 32 to 29 minutesIn addition, we are proposing:1. Patients would be able to access radiotherapy services at Hammersmith Hospital
2. Chemotherapy at Northwick Park Hospital
3. Patients could attend Imperial Hospital for complex chemotherapy and chemorad
Ealing4%Average journey times increase from 27 to 37 minutesWe are proposing patients from Ealing:1. Would access radiotherapy servies at Hammersmith Hospital
2. Patients would attend Imperial Hospital for complex chemotherapy and chemorad
3. For patients for whom the new Mount Vernon Cancer Centre would be closer, there would also be the option of radiotherapy at the site in Watford and chemotherapy at Northwick Park Hospital
Luton5%Average journey times reduce from 42 to 36 minutesThese would still be some of the longest travelling times so to reduce the number of visits required, we are proposing:1. An additional radiotherapy unit in either Stevenage or Luton
2. Blood tests for specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
3. Access to chemotherapy at home services
Bedfordshire6%Average journey times reduce from 51 to 45 minutesThese would still be the longest travelling times so to reduce the number of visits required, we are proposing:1. An additional radiotherapy unit in either Stevenage or Luton
2. Blood tests for specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
3. Access to chemotherapy at home services
Barnet1%Average journey times reduce from 38 to 30 minutesTo further reduce journeys for patients, we are proposing:1. Expanded chemotherapy services at Northwick Park
2. Blood tests for specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
3. Access to chemotherapy at home services
EastBerkshire3%Average journey times increase from 33 to 41 minutesTo reduce the number of patients this impacts, we are proposing:1. Blood tests from specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
2. Access to chemotherapy at home services
3. To consider additional actions to improve access to specialised cancer treatment
Buckinghamshire7%Average journey times increase from 29 to 35 minutesTo reduce the number of patients this impacts, we are proposing:1. Blood tests for specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
2. Access to chemotherapy at home services
3. To consider additional actions to improve access to specialised cancer treatment.
Others4%These areas include small numbers of patients from across the UK and abroad. Watford General Hospital has more accessible transport infrastructure than the current site for this group of patients


Read more about the impact of the proposed new site on different cancer treatments on page 54 of the Consultation Document.




We are now consulting on our proposal to build a new modern cancer centre on the Watford General Hospital site, with outreach services into local hospitals, to replace the current Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Northwood.

These proposals have been based on clinical need, quality of care, patient safety, and travel time and access analysis, and developed in collaboration with patients and staff. They will enable people living across Hertfordshire, and parts of Bedfordshire, north west and north central London, East Berkshire and Buckinghamshire to have the latest cancer treatments with onsite supporting services.

The relocation of Mount Vernon Cancer Centre has been identified as a national priority and would happen as soon as the money to build the new centre has been allocated but would still take several years to complete.

We want to make a permanent change to the location of the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre – moving specialised cancer services to a purpose-built new centre on an acute (main) hospital site (Watford General Hospital).

  1. Without an additional separate networked radiotherapy facility,

  2. With an additional radiotherapy facility at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage, or

  3. With an additional radiotherapy facility at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital in Luton



The Main Centre

The new cancer centre at Watford would provide the full range of specialist cancer treatments and research expected of a non-surgical specialist cancer centre.

Staff and patients would have direct access to services like critical care and medical support that is not available now.

Haematology

It would have a haematology unit providing specialist inpatient and outpatient haematology care.

Brachytherapy

It would have a brachytherapy theatre. Currently patients are transported to a local private hospital to access brachytherapy theatre facilities, and then back to MVCC.

Diagnostics

The services provided by Paul Strickland Scanner Centre would also move into the new centre.




Care Closer to Home


To support this, we also want to introduce options for care closer to home by increasing specialised cancer services in some other hospitals: For example:

Radiotherapy:
We want to shorten the longest journeys for radiotherapy treatment.

Anti-cancer treatments (including chemotherapy and immunotherapy):
We want to reduce the number of patients who have to have chemotherapy at the main centre.

Chemotherapy at home:
We want to increase the number of patients who can be trained to have chemotherapy at home.

Haematology:
We want to ensure that no patient has to travel past their nearest specialist cancer centre to receive treatment for haematology, unless it is absolutely necessary as part of a clinical trial or complex treatment.

Blood tests and minor procedures:
We want to ensure that no patient has to travel to the main cancer centre just to have a blood test.

Patient transport:
We want to work with our partners in local authorities and the voluntary sector to ensure that no patient misses out on treatment because it is too difficult to get to.




Impact on Journey Times

We want to understand what these changes would mean for you and how we can help ensure you can access specialist cancer treatment if you needed it in future, whether you travel to treatment by car, public transport or patient transport.

Watford General Hospital is the closest hospital site to the current service and is therefore the smallest change of any hospital we considered. The other hospitals that refer patients to MVCC all made a much bigger increase in travel times for a greater number of people.


Under our proposals, including the changes to care closer to home in the right-hand column below, journey times for 90% of patients would be reduced compared to their current care.

Area
% of total patients

The proposal meansWhat are we proposing to reduce the journeys to the cancer centre
East and North Hertfordshire14%Average journey times reduce from 48 to 43 minutesThese would still be some of the longest travelling times so to reduce the number of visits required, we are proposing:1. An additional radiotherapy unit in either Stevenage or Luton
2. Blood tests for specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
3. Access to chemotherapy at home services
South and West Hertfordshire28%Average journey times reduce from 25 to 21 minutes-
Hillingdon14%Average journey times increase from 16 to 27 minutesThese would still be some of the shortest travelling times but to reduce numbers of patients impacted :1. We are proposing a chemotherapy unit a Hillingdon Hospital
2. Blood tests for specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
3. Access to chemotherapy at home service
4. Patients in South Hillingdon would have their radiotherapy at Hammersmith Hospital
5. A very small number of patients in South Hillingdon would attend Imperial College Hospital for complex chemotherapy and chemorad
Harrow8%Average journey times increase from 20 to 23 minutesThis increase is minimal, and these are still some of the shortest travelling times. However to reduce the impact we are proposing:1. Expanded chemotherapy services at Northwick Park
2. Blood tests for specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
3. Access to chemotherapy at home services
Brent5%Average journey times reduce from 32 to 29 minutesIn addition, we are proposing:1. Patients would be able to access radiotherapy services at Hammersmith Hospital
2. Chemotherapy at Northwick Park Hospital
3. Patients could attend Imperial Hospital for complex chemotherapy and chemorad
Ealing4%Average journey times increase from 27 to 37 minutesWe are proposing patients from Ealing:1. Would access radiotherapy servies at Hammersmith Hospital
2. Patients would attend Imperial Hospital for complex chemotherapy and chemorad
3. For patients for whom the new Mount Vernon Cancer Centre would be closer, there would also be the option of radiotherapy at the site in Watford and chemotherapy at Northwick Park Hospital
Luton5%Average journey times reduce from 42 to 36 minutesThese would still be some of the longest travelling times so to reduce the number of visits required, we are proposing:1. An additional radiotherapy unit in either Stevenage or Luton
2. Blood tests for specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
3. Access to chemotherapy at home services
Bedfordshire6%Average journey times reduce from 51 to 45 minutesThese would still be the longest travelling times so to reduce the number of visits required, we are proposing:1. An additional radiotherapy unit in either Stevenage or Luton
2. Blood tests for specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
3. Access to chemotherapy at home services
Barnet1%Average journey times reduce from 38 to 30 minutesTo further reduce journeys for patients, we are proposing:1. Expanded chemotherapy services at Northwick Park
2. Blood tests for specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
3. Access to chemotherapy at home services
EastBerkshire3%Average journey times increase from 33 to 41 minutesTo reduce the number of patients this impacts, we are proposing:1. Blood tests from specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
2. Access to chemotherapy at home services
3. To consider additional actions to improve access to specialised cancer treatment
Buckinghamshire7%Average journey times increase from 29 to 35 minutesTo reduce the number of patients this impacts, we are proposing:1. Blood tests for specialist cancer treatment at local hospitals
2. Access to chemotherapy at home services
3. To consider additional actions to improve access to specialised cancer treatment.
Others4%These areas include small numbers of patients from across the UK and abroad. Watford General Hospital has more accessible transport infrastructure than the current site for this group of patients


Read more about the impact of the proposed new site on different cancer treatments on page 54 of the Consultation Document.



Page last updated: 19 Jan 2026, 10:01 AM