The “appalling” delay in moving forward with plans to relocate cancer services from the Mount Vernon Cancer Care Centre has been highlighted at a county council meeting.
Proposals to relocate the cancer centre to a new site adjoining Watford General Hospital were drawn up following an urgent review.
That review, conducted in 2019, described the current MVCC site – originally built as a TB hospital in 1904 – as “dilapidated and not fit for purpose.”
It highlighted the need to relocate specialist cancer services to a new centre on an acute hospital site.
Earlier this year, plans for a public consultation on the relocation of cancer services emerged.
On Tuesday, a meeting of the county council’s health scrutiny committee agreed on the structure of a new joint health overview and scrutiny committee that would run alongside the NHS consultation.
At that meeting, Conservative Cllr Richard Thake highlighted the five and a half years that had already passed since the “urgent” review.
After suggesting that the current Mount Vernon site was “falling to bits,” he said that progress needed to be accelerated.
“Five years on – or five-and-a-half years on – we’re setting-up a joint overview and scrutiny committee,” he said.
“I mean, frankly it’s appalling.
“It is very clear in this report – and in previous reports we have had – that there are great shortcomings, despite the incredible work they are doing.
“This is not a criticism of Mount Vernon – but the place is falling to bits.
“It hasn’t got the capacity to add the care, the additional care, that is required to make a comprehensive cancer thing.
“This frankly has got to be accelerated. And I wish the joint committee every success going forward. But frankly, five-and-a-half years on from an urgent review is appalling.”
Agreeing with Cllr Thake, Liberal Democrat Cllr Chris White said this was “a symptom of how we do public assets in the UK,” rather than an issue specific to Mount Vernon.
He added that there was a “great keenness” among councils and councillors – “shared utterly by the NHS” – to “get a move on.”
“In terms of Mount Vernon as it currently stands, it’s a curious beast actually, because it’s a mixture of falling-to-bits and unbelievable hi-tech,” he said.
“And it’s amazing what they have done even between the visits I have made, spaced about two years apart, in terms of getting-in new machinery and having new treatment and assessment centres.
“What’s there and modern is one of those old fashion phrases no doubt, the ‘envy of the world’.
“It’s just that the estate itself is elsewhere a problem.”
Cllr White went on to stress the need for specialist cancer services to be close to acute services.
As well as four members from Hertfordshire County Council, the new joint health overview and scrutiny committee will include representatives from 10 councils whose residents use services at Mount Vernon.
These councils include the London boroughs of Hillingdon and Harrow, as well as Buckinghamshire, Brent, Ealing, Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Luton, and Slough.
The number of members from each council has been determined based on the “patient flow” from each authority into Mount Vernon.
The committee will be asked to hold four meetings, each addressing different topics relating to the consultation.
Deborah is a Local Democracy Reporter covering news across Hertfordshire, with a strong focus on councils, local government and public policy. Her reporting includes county council decisions, council tax, spending pressures, legal and regulatory issues, healthcare stories including junior doctors, and community projects affecting local residents.
