A FINAL appeal to residents to make their voice heard on the future of health services in Hertfordshire is being launched by Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Strategic Health Authority (SHA).

Health chiefs are hoping to boost the number of people voting for their preferred option in the consultation Investing in Your Health before the June 11 deadline.

An advertisement picturing an elderly woman sitting on a hospital bench with the slogan "You don't have to wait" and a questionnaire is to be published in newspapers across Hertfordshire over the coming week.

The radical plan, which offers a choice between two very different models of care to be implemented over the next ten years, has generated a strong response from this newspaper's readers.

They have sent in more than 400 campaign coupons in support of Option Two to keep and develop emergency services at Watford General and build a hospital with a cancer centre in Hatfield over the past seven weeks. The SHA has received around 600 votes.

This new hospital, which would replace the QEII in Welwyn, could be linked to the University of Hertfordshire to boost training and research, attracting urgently-needed staff to the county.

Hemel Hempstead Hospital and The Lister in Stevenage would treat low-risk patients, concentrating on planned surgery.

The alternative is proving less popular. Option One suggests Watford General and the QEII should be stripped of acute services, which includes full-equipped A&E, maternity and specialised services.

A new hospital would not be built in Hatfield, leaving much of east Hertfordshire in an acute service wilderness. Hemel Hempstead would be redeveloped to include a cancer centre.

April 30, 2003 17:30