Health chiefs have confirmed this week that the proposed redevelopment of Watford General Hospital will not now be completed until 2016 at the earliest.

The original proposal was that a redeveloped and expanded hospital for Watford would be completed by 2013, a target confirmed in June 2006 by the local hospital trust. However, since then, the timeframe has slipped back. In September, the hospital trust confirmed that the target date for the opening of the new hospital was 2015. Now, the East of England Strategic Health Authority has revealed that the target date has slipped back further to 2016.

South West Hertfordshire MP, David Gauke, who obtained the information, commented:

‘This further delay is very disappointing. At the last election, the Government promised a £300m hospital in Watford by 2013. We already knew that the expenditure had been cut back but it is now clear that, in the last three years, this project has been put back by three years. With many Government projects unravelling because of funding difficulties, this further delay raises serious concerns as to whether Watford will ever get the new hospital we have been promised.’

Hemel Hempstead MP, Mike Penning, commented:

‘This news confirms my view that there is a major doubt about the Watford project. If that is the case, how can the Hospital Trust proceed with the closure of Hemel?’