At a meeting with the Chair and Chief Executive of the Beds & Herts Strategic Authority today, Mike Penning MP received the CEO’s assurances that he will investigate the issue of a further reduction in critical care beds at Hemel Hospital.

Mike Penning attended a public meeting last year of the Dacorum Health Scrutiny Committee at which the West Herts Hospital Trust were criticised over their plan to cut the six beds at Hemel hospital in the HDU, (High Dependency Unit). He complained and was told that even though these six HDU beds were to be cut the public would not be at risk because at the same time they had increased the number of ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds from four to six. Mike has found out that the number of ICU beds has now been cut from six to four.

Mike said: “ICU and HDU beds are there to provide intensive highly skilled care to patients who are in a critical condition. They are there to save lives. For the bureaucrats to reduce the number of beds from ten, last year to four today is just unbelievable. What is unforgivable is when the Hospital Trust management excuse their cutting of all six HDU beds with the increase of a further two ICU beds only to close these after a few months. John de Braux, the CEO, was not aware of this and has agreed to use all his powers to investigate this cut in critical beds and report his findings to me.”