Healthcare in Hertfordshire was the responsibility of the Herts Valleys, East, and North Hertfordshire

clinical commissioning group Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were NHS organisations set up by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to organise the delivery of NHS services in each of their local areas in England. On 1 July 2022 they were abolished and replaced by Integra ...

s until July 2022.

History

From 1947 to 1965 NHS services in Hertfordshire were managed by the North-West Metropolitan, East Anglian and North-East Metropolitan

regional hospital board In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

s. In 1974 the boards were abolished and replaced by regional health authorities. Hertfordshire came under the North West Metropolitan RHA. Regions were reorganised in 1996 and Hertfordshire came under the North West Thames Regional Health Authority. Hertfordshire was one of the area health authorities, subdivided into four district health authorities: North, East, South West and South West. In 1993 the county was divided into three health authorities: East and North Hertfordshire; North West Hertfordshire; South West Hertfordshire. Regional health authorities were reorganised and renamed

strategic health authorities Strategic health authorities (SHA) were part of the structure of the National Health Service (England), National Health Service in England between 2002 and 2013. Each SHA was responsible for managing performance, enacting directives and implementin ...

in 2002. Hertfordshire was under Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire SHA. In 2006 regions were again reorganised and Hertfordshire came under NHS East of England until that was abolished in 2013. There was one

primary care trust Primary care trusts (PCTs) were part of the National Health Service in England from 2001 to 2013. PCTs were largely administrative bodies, responsible for commissioning primary, community and secondary health services from providers. Until 31 May ...

for the area.

Commissioning

In October 2017 the two CCGs decided that obese patients “will not get non‐urgent surgery until they reduce their weight” unless there are “exceptional circumstances” and Smokers would not be referred for non-urgent surgery “unless they have stopped smoking for eight weeks or more”. They also decided to reduce funding for

In vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...

from three cycles to one for patients who meet the criteria; that female sterilisation will only be funded in exceptional circumstances; that gluten-free food will not be available on prescription for most patients who need it; and that over the counter medicines will no longer be prescribed except in exceptional circumstances. Herts Valleys needs to save £45 million in 2017-18 to break even. East and North Hertfordshire needs to save £23 million.

Sustainability and transformation plan

The

sustainability and transformation plan In England, a sustainability and transformation plan (STP) is a non-statutory requirement which promotes integrated provision of healthcare, including purchasing and commissioning, within each geographical area of the National Health Service. The ...

for the county includes both Hertfordshire and West Essex. It claims that the use of the hospital sector will be reduced and the use of community and primary care sector increased. There is no clear account of how the problems with local hospitals are to be tackled.

Paul Burstow Paul Kenneth Burstow (born 13 May 1962) is a British former politician who served as the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Sutton and Cheam for 18 years, from 1997 to 2015, when he was defeated by Paul Scully. He was appointed Ministe ...

was appointed to chair the partnership in November 2018.

Primary and community care

Primary and community care services are provided by

Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust, commonly referred to as HCT, is an NHS organisation providing adult and children's community health services, such as district nursing and health visiting, across Hertfordshire. It also provides some services in ...

Acute care

The main providers of NHS acute hospital care in the county are

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust runs three National Health Services hospitals: Watford General Hospital, St Albans City Hospital and Hemel Hempstead Hospital, in Hertfordshire, England. It provides "acute healthcare services to a ...

and

East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust was created in April 2000, by merger of the former East Hertfordshire and North Hertfordshire NHS trusts. It runs Lister Hospital, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, the New QEII Hospital, Hertford County Hospital ...

. Ambulance services are provided by

East of England Ambulance Service The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) is an NHS trust responsible for providing National Health Service (NHS) ambulance services in the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, in the ...

. There has been longstanding criticism of hospital facilities in the area. In 2019 West Herts 21st Century Hospital Solution, a local campaign group engaged BDP Healthcare to produce plans for a new acute general hospital in West Hertfordshire. They say this would be “financially feasible and far preferable to existing plans to carry out piecemeal repairs”, but NHS managers say this option vastly exceeds the funding threshold, and they propose to apply for £350 million of central government funding for “significant investment” at

Watford General Hospital Watford General Hospital is a 521-bed acute District General Hospital situated on Vicarage Road, Watford, Hertfordshire. Together with Hemel Hempstead Hospital and St Albans City Hospital, it is operated by West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust ...

, upgrades to surgery facilities at St Albans City Hospital and the consolidation of

Hemel Hempstead Hospital Hemel Hempstead Hospital is an acute District General Hospital in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire operated by the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust. History The original hospital in Hemel Hempstead was established when Sir Astley Cooper conv ...

Mental health

NHS Mental Health services are provided by

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health and learning difficulty services in Hertfordshire, England and neighbouring areas. It was granted University Trust Status in January 2013. It took part in a proj ...

References

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Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...