There have been a number of exchanges about Watford General District Hospital in the “Letters to the Editor” section of recent editions of the Watford Observer.

What many people may not be aware of is that the West Hertfordshire Health Authority proposed the closure of Watford Hospital as one option in 1997-1998.

Fortunately, all five local authorities (Watford, Three Rivers, Dacorum, St Albans and Hertsmere) combined together to oppose the threatened closure of Watford and other local hospitals, and retained the service of a highly expert team headed up by Professor Allyson Pollock to advise them and provide support.

What they provide is a damning indictment of the sheer incompetence of senior management at the health authority, as well as at some of the local hospitals.

At the same time as this exercise was taking place, I was nominated as a Watford Borough Councillor to the South West Herts Community Health Council, which became persuaded of the need to exercise their statutory right to object to the strategic plans of the health authority.

I was part of a team which visited the Minister of State for Health at the Department of Health in order to present our case for opposing the threatened closure of Watford Hospital. The Minister eventually found in our favour and the hospital was saved.

Local people across West Hertfordshire came together to campaign against the health authority’s plans; in particular through organisations like Watch (Watford Against Threats to Close Hospitals) and Dhag (Dacorum Hospital Action Group) – among others.

As the last person to act as Chair of Watch during the time we campaigned against the health authority’s closure plans, and as well as being one of the local Councillors on a cross district local authorities planning group and as a Member of the South West Herts Community Health Council, I was in a unique position to observe just who did – and did not – act to save our local hospitals.

I can state categorically that it was largely Labour Party members and concerned local residents who were involved in saving local hospitals and that the Watford Liberal Democrats – with one single exception – were never involved in campaigning to save Watford District General Hospital.

Then Councillors Sharpe and Thornhill did little or nothing to save our local hospital.

Re-reading Professor Pollock’s reports makes for depressing reading as it seems the local health care authorities learned nothing from them and have carried on cutting down the numbers of acute hospital beds to less than half their previous number anyway.

This is why we now find Watford’s A&E having to close at fairly regular intervals.

The population in the area served by our local hospitals has increased from around 500,000 to around 650,000 – yet the numbers of beds has been cut and funding of the NHS and social care has been going down in real terms.

There probably will be no NHS left by the time of the 2020 general election due to Lib Dem/Tory privatisation and asset-stripping of the NHS and social care.

John Dowdle, St Mary’s Close, Watford