I
was
totally
disillusioned
after
reading
the
articles
in
the
Hemel
Gazette
(28
March
2018)
about
the
NHS
shambles
of
the West Herts Hospitals.
My
personal
experience
of
healthcare
in
Dacorum
was
excellent when I fell ill just before Christmas in 2014.
The
paramedics
arrived
within
minutes
and
assessed
my
condition.
They
whisked
me
off
to
Watford
General
Hospital
for
emergency
treatment.
At
around
6:30am,
after
about
a
high
speed
20
minute
journey,
we
arrived
and
was
introduced
to
the
consultant,
Mr
Anderson,
and
his
team
who
were
going
treat me.
The
operating
theatre
was
ready
but
there
was
a
tense,
lengthy
debate
over
the
availability
of
a
bed.
Luckily,
everything went ahead and I am here to tell the tale.
The
paramedics,
nurses,
consultant
and
doctors
were
all
wonderful
and
I
am
truly
indebted
to
them
for
their
care.
However,
three
days
later
I
had
to
be
re-admitted
again
after
being
discharged
prematurely.
My
GP
had
visited me at home and, expressing his concern, telephoned the hospital for re-admission direct to the ward.
No
bed
was
available
and
I
spent
the
first
night
on
a
trolley
in
the
admissions
lounge.
Again
the
doctors
and
nurses
were
excellent
both
in
making
me
comfortable
and
treatment.
The
next
day
I
was
on
the
ward
in
time to celebrate Christmas in Watford Hospital.
On
reflection,
I
believe
NHS
management
pressures
on
front
line
staff
resulted
in
little
continuity
of
treatment.
Hence
my
erroneous
premature
discharge
from
hospital.
Nursing
staff
and
doctors
were
being
shifted
around
from
unit
to
unit
depending
on
their
speciality.
One
doctor
would
visit
in
the
morning
and
say
I
could
now
be
tried
on
solid
food,
then
later
in
the
afternoon,
without
having
chance
to
eat
a
meal,
the
senior
nurse
informed
me
that
I
would
discharged
the
next
day.
I
expressed
my
concern
that
I
hadn’t
seen
a
doctor
for
reassessment
and
she
replied
to
the
effect,
‘you
were
grateful
for
this
bed,
so
you
should
now
vacate
it
for
someone
else’.
I
still
felt
poorly
and now had pangs of guilt too.
Later
in
the
same
year
I
had
elective
surgery
on
a
separate
problem.
This
was
a
case
of
third
time
lucky
after
two
operation
dates
were
postponed.
One
by
St
Albans
City
Hospital
who
said
they
didn’t
have
suitable facilities and one by Watford Hospital due to work load.
Afterwards,
I
then
had
a
resultant
problem
that
entailed
a
return
visit
to
Watford
A&E.
There
was
also
a
situation
when
it
came
to
having
some
clips
removed.
First
there
was
no
one
at
my
GP
surgery
that
could
do
it
and
I
was
referred
to
Hemel
Hempstead
Urgent
Care
Centre
who
it
turned
out
didn’t
have
the
necessary special pliers.
The
NHS
say
they
have
adopted
government
policy
of
choice
of
hospital
for
all.
I
doubt
this
is
such
an
easy
option
as
treatment
in
the
local
area
is
becoming
so
limited
as
seeming
to
be
no
choice
at
all
because,
when
it
comes
to
medical
treatment
in
hospital,
voting
with
our
feet
is
not
so
practical
when
local
hospitals
and
associated
emergency
services
are
either
closing
or
cannot
cope
with
demands
of
the
populous.
A
family
relation
fractured
a
hip.
The
patient
was
taken
by
ambulance
to
Watford
A&E
Department.
We
were
retrospectively
informed
that
healthcare
managers
had
stipulated
the
destination
and
there
was
no
other,
more
local
option.
When
it
came
to
this
hospital
admission,
again
there
were
no
practical
choices;
the
on-site
unit,
go
private,
or
suffer
in
pain!
In
retrospect
the
patient
received
good
nursing
care
although,
being
a
‘Specialist
Unit’,
they
initially
failed
to
look
at
the
‘whole
person’
and
did
not
diagnose
an
additional
bladder
problem.
In
the
distant
past,
another
of
my
relatives
had
excellent
treatment
in
St
Albans
City
Hospital
with
fast,
efficient
follow-up
and
on-going
support.
However,
we
are
told
that
we
must
not
dwell
on
the
past,
instead we all should move on and concentrate on the future
So
far
this
year
(Spring
2018)
there
is
even
a
public
notice
in
our
GP
surgery
stating
that
the
NHS
is
under
pressure
and
there
is
a
limit
of
one
ailment
per
urgent
appointment.
On
occasions
I
have
tried
to
phone
my
local
GP
surgery
or,
in
the
past,
wanted
to
speak
to
a
specific
hospital
doctor’s
secretary
only
to
find
that
both
can
be
as
frustrating
as
calling
the
proverbial
inefficient
commercial
call
centre.
The
population
in
the
Dacorum
area
is
increasing
with
the
extensive
home
building
programme
in
the
area,
whilst
the
local
healthcare
bureaucrats
have
downgraded
what
was
our
state-of-the-art
hospital!
This
reorganisation
favours
other
hospitals
in
neighbouring
boroughs.
In
consequence
they
have
transferred
staff
and
doctors
to
these
other
hospitals
to
create
‘Specialist
Units’.
Among
these
transfers
are Maternity, Acute A&E and Orthopaedic services.
Everyone,
presumably
including
NHS
strategists,
are
supposed
to
be
Creating
Sustainable
Communities.
Not
being
aware
of
the
Defra
definition
of
a
Community,
we
can
only
assume
that
they
have
taken
health
equality,
well-being,
environmental
CO2
and
noise
pollution
by
road
transport
into
consideration when they transferred these medical units to specialist centres.
NHS
care
seems
to
have
come
full
circle
starting
originally
with
local
Cottage
Hospitals,
then
these
gave
way
to
larger
General
Hospitals,
moving
on
to
Regional
Hospitals
with
local
GP
Surgeries,
State-
of
the-art
Local
Hospitals
with
Health
Centres,
and
now
the
introduction
Regional
Specialist
Hospitals.
It
has
been
said
that
the
future
is
with
community
treatment
centres,
no
doubt
another
fancy
name
for
the
modern
day
equivalent
of
those
original
Cottage
Hospitals?
In
similar
reorganisational
situations,
it
seems
frequently
there
are
news
items
about
things
going
wrong
to
which
there
are
mitigating
announcements
in
legalese.
At
best,
for
example,
they
will
usually
say
“there
is
an
on-going
investigation
and
are
unable
to
pre-empt
the
findings
of
the
official
enquiry
and
comment
until
a
report
is
published.
We
will
note
findings
of
the
enquiry,
learn
from
any
mistakes
made, and will improve going forward."
Announcements
usually
followed
up
by
“I
am
sure
our
patients
will
sympathise
when
we
say
that
we
have
undergone
a
major
reorganisation.
Our
dedicated
medical
team
have
invested
valuable
time
and
effort
to
make
this
transition
as
smooth
as
possible
and
minimise
any
disruption.
We
have
been
through
a
learning
curve
and
apologise
to
those
few
who
have
experienced
isolated
problems.
Our
new structure is a positive step and we have already made significant improvements.”
The
most
recent
culture
is
to
blame
the
post
2nd
World
War
baby-bulge
(aka
the
older
baby-boomers)
generation
for
pressure
of
social
care
and
finances,
as
though
successive
governments
were
unaware
and
completely
taken
by
surprise.
It
is
recognised
that
those
born
after
WW2
rebuilt
Britain
and
created
the
welfare
state
which
has
since
been
systematically
dismantled.
We
all
know
that
austerity
measures
brought
in
by
the
government
aggravated
most
of
these
social
problems.
Successive
governments
have
continued
with
free
market
monetarism
policies
(aka
Thatcherism)
and
as
we
found
in
the
financial
crash
of
2008,
they
don’t
always
work.
Population
statistics
show
that
the
next
baby-
boomer
retirement
peak
will
start
in
about
15
years
time.
The
government
are
now
discussing
the
introduction
of
an
extra
income
tax
ring-fenced
specifically
for
the
NHS,
so
what
happened
to
all
those
past 70 years of taxpayer NI contributions which were solely intended for the NHS and social welfare?
It
remains
to
be
seen
how
successful
the
ongoing
NHS
reorganisations
prove
to
be.
It
is
good
that,
as
reported
in
the
Gazette,
individual
members
of
the
various
trust
committees
and
politicians
are
locked
in
heated
debate.
However,
it
also
remains
to
be
seen
if
Mike
Penning
our
local
MP
for
12
years
can
stand
up
to
Parliament
and
improve
Dacorum’s
healthcare
by
promoting
a
fully
functioning
state-of-the-art
hospital
for
the
Hemel
Hempstead
area.
All
that
has
happened
so
far
is
the
closure
of
Hemel
Hempstead
A&E
in
favour
of
an
‘Urgent
Care
Centre’.
More
recently
this
has
been
renamed
to
the
urgent
‘treatment’
centre
and
had
its
opening
hours
reduced.
We
can
hope
that
removal
of
the
word
‘Care’
is
not
significant
and
that
government
regulator,
NHS
Improvement,
will
soon
announce
that
a
new NHS owned hospital will be built for the Dacorum population.
Hemel’s original Sir Astley Cooper Cottage Hospital
Having
recently
been
to
the
opticians,
was
informed
that
should
a
serious
urgent
out-of-hours
eye
problem
occurred
one
would
have
to
travel
to
A&E
at
Stoke
Mandeville
hospital.
The
eye
clinics
in
our
local area are no longer walk-in and an appointment has now to be made.
Hemel Hempstead Hospital Complex
Hemel Hempstead Hospital Entrance (
DHAG Link
)
Sir Mike Penning MP outside the disused buildings of Hemel Hospital
