Anne Main discusses A&E move with health chief
6th October 2008
Following today's announcement on plans to move acute services to Watford General Hospital, Anne Main, MP for St Albans, spoke to the Chief Executive of West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust to discuss the move in more detail.
The Trust announced that the next stage of plans to move A&E services from Hemel Hempstead to Watford General Hospital will begin on 3rd November. After this date, 999 "blue light" emergency patients will be taken directly to Watford General after 10pm, whilst the A&E unit at Hemel Hempstead will remain open until March 2009, when all A&E services will be relocated to Watford General.
Anne said:
"I discussed the plans with Jan Filochowski, Chief Executive of the Trust, earlier today, and he assured me that this alteration will have little impact on patients from St Albans. The vast majority of patients will continue to be treated at Hemel Hempstead until the planned move early next year.
I was concerned, however, to hear that this change has been necessary because the Trust could not secure adequate doctor cover for the night shift at Hemel. Sadly, it appears that the Government's alterations to the working rules for doctors from abroad may have added to this problem, and maintaining staffing levels in difficult shifts continues to be a problem for the Trust."
