IF every resident of Watford and Three Rivers would take a moment to think about the scandalous misuse of money used to regenerate a hospital in Watford; what would you expect for your money?

A state-of-the-art teaching hospital maybe. A centre of excellence perhaps. A hospital with facilities to treat maybe hundreds of patients affected by a deadly pandemic, whilst able to treat cancer patients and help mothers give birth in safety.

How much do you, the residents of Watford, expect a hospital that needs to serve over 500,000 people would cost.

I hear you say...Watford is a mere 95,000 and Three Rivers 93,000 (these are approximations). But where, you ask, are the other 320,000 residents? They don't exist!

The NHS Trust at Watford General Hospital and Mr Peter Taylor are only interested in Watford/Three Rivers. They want to pour £520 million into Watford General, a hospital in Watford for the people of Watford, while claiming the hospital serves 500,000 residents.

The hospital will soon be surrounded by 1,000 new homes. A school and community centre. A multi-storey car park and an all bells and whistles retirement 'village'.

With that many people moving around in the immediate vicinity, how are you, the people of Watford, going to get to the hospital through all that traffic?

Do you, the residents of Watford, think that you really want £520 million of your money, spent on a hospital that will be inaccessible, squeezed into a space that will be surrounded by hundreds of homes and busy roads and a football stadium?

More importantly, you are going to have to share this with more than 320,000 other residents who do not live in Watford. Yes, that's thousands upon thousands of people who, at one time or another, will be making their way to your hospital. Mayor Pete has clearly stated that this is a hospital for Watford. The truth is this Watford General Hospital is the only hospital serving the whole of west Herts.

To be called a hospital it must have: 'A&E, surgical and wards for the treatment of the sick and injured'. Would you accept a hospital without an A&E or facilities to fix a child's broken arm? A birthing centre. Cardiac facilities. Cancer care unit. I would hazard a guess that you would find that particular scenario totally unacceptable. But that is exactly what is happening in a huge area of west Herts.

The trust at Watford General Hospital is anticipating building new facilities, refurbishing, upgrading on top of the current hospital. So is it going to be a new hospital or not? Upgrading does not mean rebuilding! Are they going to get this done in less than five years? How do you build on top of a hospital, that they say will be little affected by the work.

To give you some perspective, Brighton has to date spent five years rebuilding its hospital, with phase three due to finish in 2026. It will have taken nine whole years and £100 million less, coming in at £420 million. The WHHT is spending one hundred million more, doing less work, but is claiming it will be a new hospital in half the time it has taken Brighton.

Draw your own conclusions, but there are thousands who do not support these plans for Watford General. If the money goes anywhere, it should be spent on a facility for the half a million people who live in west Herts not just the 200,000 who are local to the current site.

Elizabeth Dashwood-Smyth

By email